On Dec. 5 fans of Quentin Tarantino’s infamous high-action thriller Kill Bill awoke to quite a treat.: a combination of both volumes and some added bonus content.
Kill Bill itself is a bloody, high-action film, featuring martial arts, sword fighting, and other elements to create a violent–yet memorable–tale. It stars Uma Thurman as the nameless woman simply known as “The Bride,” an ex-assassin on a mission to kill her ex-lover, and former boss, Bill. After he and the rest of her former assassination team betray her at her wedding–shooting her and stealing her daughter while she’s comatose–the action begins.
Kill Bill is split into two volumes, as the combined films run a little over two-hours each. And, due to pressures from publishers, Tarantino split the films rather than cutting out too many scenes. Yet, now in 2025–nearly 21 years after Volume 2 was released–The Whole Bloody Affair is released in theatres, finally combining the two once more.
The Whole Bloody Affair is how Tarantino originally intended audiences to watch Kill Bill. And, in just one week, the film has already received critical acclaim, although critics did get an initial viewing before wider audiences. A recent viewer of the film, EHS student David Barrios-Gervacio has given the film his own praise, stating, “Watching The Whole Bloody Affair as one full movie makes The Bride’s story hit way harder. Instead of feeling like two separate movies, it becomes this nonstop, stylish revenge journey that’s emotional, brutal, and surprisingly human.”
In addition to the combination of the films, The Whole Bloody Affair also incorporated several cuts to help the films flow together better in order to capture Tarantino’s original vision. For one, the cliffhanger ending at the end of Volume 1 has been completely removed, as is a recap at the beginning of volume 2, splicing the two films to fit together into one viewing experience.
Volume 2 also features an entirely new anime sequence, originally omitted from Volume 1 due to runtime. This sequence features one of the film’s main antagonist’s backstory–O-Ren Ishii’s (played by Lucy Liu)–and how she came to be the ruthless Yakuza member that The Bride encounters in the finale of Volume 1.
These additional changes seem to be generally liked, with Barrios-Gervacio saying, “What I love most is how Tarantino blends all these different genres—samurai films, Westerns, anime—and somehow makes it all feel natural.” Summarizing his feelings, he adds, “The movie just flows better in this cut, and The Bride’s character feels deeper and more believable.”
Volume 1’s most memorable and tense sequence is definitely the House of Blue Leaves, where The Bride fights through various assassins and eventually confronts O-Ren in the final, thrilling, action sequence.
Despite the film’s combination, though, this sequence still stands out regardless, with Barrios-Gervacio offering this insight: “Seeing it in the full version gives it more weight. It’s not just cool ‘fight ‘choreography—it actually feels like part of her emotional journey.”
As an additional part of the release of The Whole Bloody Affair, there was also the release of an animated seven-minute short-film named “The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge,” which in turn was a collaboration with Fortnite, with several special skins, including one styled after The Bride.
It would appear that this release is the long awaited “complete” version of Kill Bill, merging both Volume 1 and 2 together to create a definitive Kill Bill experience.
