I Watched Both Kill Bill Films as The Whole Bloody Affair and Saw God

5 min read

I WAS ABOUT ten years old when Kill Bill Vol. 1 was first released in 2003. Something about the title—Kill Bill—drew me in like a tractor beam. It sounded cool, and the buzz—it was so violent, so intense, and so not for kids—made it into the forbidden fruit of movies, an R-rated experience I wasn’t supposed to have access to just yet. And so, I needed to. Immediately.

Incidentally, it was a few days after I somehow convinced my parents to let me rent Pulp Fiction on DVD from the local library that I finally got to see Kill Bill Vol. 1 for the first time, also on DVD. I was utterly transported. Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vol. 1 became my entire world. They spawned handwritten watch lists pulled from IMDB’s infamous mid-aught message boards. For at least a decade, they dictated my entire media diet and idea of what art could and should look like. Like many other millennial boys, I’m sure, there’s a Pulp Fiction poster on the wall of my childhood bedroom to this very day.

And yet, mysteriously… I never watched Kill Bill Vol. 2.

Part one, apparently, was enough for me. Uma Thurman and her iconic yellow track suit had their epic night at the House of Blue Leaves and took on Lucy Liu—set to that one song that I didn’t recognize but knew was just about the coolest song ever made.

And that was all I needed! In middle school and high school, I’d see bits and pieces of Kill Bill Vol. 2 on Starz or HBO. I knew enough, or so I thought: Uma Thurman has an epic showdown with Daryl Hannah and eventually Bill (David Carradine) and at some point she gets buried alive.

But, for reasons I really cannot explain to this day, I never watched the whole thing from start to finish.

Fast forward a couple decades. Throughout the years, I’d heard it repeated that Quentin Tarantino considered Kill Bill as one big film. “Technically we released it as two movies…” he said in 2019, “but I made it as one movie and I wrote it as one movie… Frankly, the truth of the matter is, I don’t think it would’ve been as popular as a four hour movie.”

Then, earlier this year, I learned that Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair would finally be coming theaters—all 275 minutes of it. This was my time to finally see how the Kill Bill story all fits together as one big, exciting story. I kind of figured it would be now-or-never.

I’ve seen my fair share of long, massive films in theaters—including multiple viewings of epics like Killers of the Flower Moon and The Brutalist in 2023 and 2024 respectively. But 4.5 hours for the Kill Bill story marked a new high for me—and what a high it was.

Sitting for The Whole Bloody Affair is an experience. First off, knowing that you’re going to be planted in that theater for as long as you are makes choosing a good seat absolutely critical. The theater where the press screening was being held didn’t have fancy recliner seats, but I made sure I got a good spot near the aisle, somewhere I could see the screen but also without anyone particularly close to me. This let me stretch my legs, clench my fists, cover my eyes—all of which I did over the nearly five hours that followed.

Part of the reason I really love seeing movies in theaters—especially these days—is that it takes distractions out of the equation. If I take my phone out during a movie I’m watching at home, I’m not breaking any kind of etiquette or rule. But at the theater, everyone knows that’s a jackass move. It makes watching a long, epic movie that much easier, and that much more immersive. Even still, I wasn’t quite ready for the transcendent experience that seeing all of Kill Bill on the big screen would be.

Bloody Affair pins both films together, separated by an intermission in between the volumes. It had been long enough since I’d last seen the first part that it felt fresh to watch it again, and many of those incredible moments made me feel, quite literally, like I was about to float out of my seat and into the sky. I was glued to that screen.

Vol. 2, while slower and more contemplative than the first part, lived up to my 20+ years of nostalgia and admiration for the Kill Bill name. At times, I grimaced and covered my eyes. At other times, I couldn’t look away—not just from the (obviously God-tier) action, but during some of the masterful monologues and character moments, too. This includes Uma Thurman of course; I was also shocked by just how good Daryl Hannah and David Carradine were with their increased roles.

The Whole Bloody Affair also includes never-before-seen animated footage inserted into the first film from O-Ren Ishii’s (Liu) origin story, and a bizarre Fortnite animated short film after the credits roll (which, despite being brand new and featuring the voice of Uma Thurman, is strange and confusing and we don’t have to talk about it too much).

For fellow fans, know this: The parts you remember being awesome are even more awesome on the big screen. The blood-soaked action and stunt sequences, the incredible performances, and Tarantino’s dynamic camera work always hit in the comfort of your home, but in a theater and taking up your entire field of view, there’s not much else that can compare.

We’re in a time where there aren’t a ton of true cinematic events that feel like something you’ll remember for a long time. Recently, Sinners and One Battle After Another pulled it off, but it feels like every year experiences like that are fewer and farther between. Which is what makes moments like Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair feel special. With streaming in flux and Hollywood eating itself, we really don’t know how many more chances we’re going to get to watch something like this.

So. If you can, I highly suggest putting your phone away and locking in. It’ll be the fastest—and bloodiest—4.5 hours of your life.