Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2025)

Quentin Tarantino always wanted to release Kill Bill as one blood-spattered epic rampage of revenge. Back in 2003, he had to settle for two separate volumes, with Volume One providing more action set pieces (including the Crazy 88 fight) and Volume Two being more of a contemplative meditation on the idea of revenge, and perhaps most strangely for a Tarantino film, family. Released separately though, both films felt uneven, and didn’t quite fit together as a whole. Considering Tarantino’s three previous features up until this point (Reservoir Dogs [1992], Pulp Fiction [1994] and Jackie Brown [1997]), Kill Bill ultimately didn’t hold a candle to what had come before.

The Whole Bloody Affair however, whilst still perhaps not being top-notch Tarantino (which is quite a high bar)- is a real step up from the original release of two volumes. There's an intermission which is inserted in the familiar place where Volume One initially ended, but by the time you get to that, you feel completely exhilarated and more than ready for the second half of what is unmistakably one film. The plot surely isn't one that needs explaining, but I'll drop it anyway. Uma Thurman's The Bride exacts her bloody revenge on the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad - headed by her former lover Bill (David Carradine)- after they leave her for dead at her wedding rehearsal, as she attempts to leave the Squad and start a new life. She tracks them down one by one, chapter by chapter, and we see the bloody demise of Lucy Liu, Michael Madson, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah before the whole thing culminates in a truly sensational exchange between The Bride and Bill, in what is the least bloody sequence of the entire film. Despite a run time that approaches five hours, The Whole Bloody Affair feels like half of that. If you’re au fait with the original films you’ll notice the extended sequences (including the animated back story of Lucy Liu’s O-Ren Ishii) which never outstay their welcome and add more to what ends up a fully rounded narrative. Indeed, as some have stipulated, the Whole Bloody Affair might well be the most Tarantino film Tarantino has ever made. The numerous homages- which Tarantino is only too excited to explain- are even more explicit throughout this behemoth of a film, ranging from kung-fu cinema to Yakuza features to the sprawling Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone. And although in the original two volumes these might have felt more sporadic and disjointed, when all put together run far more smoothly and make complete sense.

The Whole Bloody Affair has turned the initial two-part fun-but-iffy Kill Bill into a fully rounded bloodthirsty epic, and not only should we be glad we’ve got to see Tarantino’s vision, but those of you who haven’t seen it should seek it out at the earliest opportunity. This is without doubt the definitive edition of Kill Bill, and the frustration when I walked out of the cinema was that it had taken twenty two years for this to be brought to the screen properly. And even then it's got a paltry release, perhaps underlining the initial problem in the first place- the studios and audiences couldn't deal with over four hours in a cinema. What's more impressive about this release is that the intervening controversies since its initial release (the revelations about producer Harvey Weinstein, Tarantino and Uma Thurman's recent public admissions over her injury during the filming of Kill Bill) don't affect the final product in the slightest. Indeed, Thurman and Tarantino collaborated on a post credits animated short for this release. The less said about Weinstein the better, in terms of giving him a mention with regards to Kill Bill. Certain critics who find Tarantino self-indulgent and past his sell by date will be beside themselves with frustration at the release of this, and you'd imagine probably won't even bother seeing it. But it's their loss, because The Whole Bloody Affair takes a forced and patchy final result over twenty years ago and gives it to us how it was always intended. It's still not his best film, perhaps not even top five (emphasising both what a brilliant director the man is and how much I love his film making) but The Whole Bloody Affair should be seen by everyone who calls themselves a fan of film. 8.4/10