Review: Kill Bill – The Whole Bloody Affair

Last week, Saturday evening 7pm local time in Berlin, history was made. At least for me personally. A moment that was about 20 years in the making: I finally got to see a film that had eluded the cinephile world for almost decades: Kill Bill – The Whole Bloody Affair. A few friends and myself had tickets to the gloooorious 70MM screening at the Zoo Palast, Berlin’s most up-scale theater, and we immersed ourselves in the 4,5h screening of Quentin’s magnum opus with excitement. Now, I rarely properly review Tarantino’s films unless they just came out, but this experience I have do digest and do justice, so what follows are three little review-esque segments that cover things circling in my head after having experienced this cinematic celebration, an experience that put tears of joy into my eyes.

Re-experiencing the masterpiece in 70MM

I am humbly aware that the joy of experiencing this in a 70MM presentation is of course reserved to small group of people. There are only six theaters in Germany equipped to project it, so only they had it (two of them are in Berlin, the other in Karlsruhe, Hamburg, Essen and Hannover). In Austria, only one theater in Vienna does. So unless you live in a major city (it’s the same in the US or UK of course, and other countries) or you’re willing to turn this into a city trip from somewhere, this is a very exclusive format. 35MM versions are more wide spread, but the most common version people will have access to is of course a digital DCP projection, unfortunately. I was lucky to see it in a really good one, and that was also the same screen I saw The Hateful Eight on. The 70MM presentation is a sight to behold. Rich colors and textures, depth and sharpness, details like you wouldn’t believe, and film grain to make you cry. Additionally, thundering surround audio that does wonders, with the most breathtaking moment being (like back in 2004) the part where she got nailed into the coffin and the room goes dark (aside from annoying “Exit” signs). I have to say it was an absolutely fucking amazing experience. We had center seats, the auditorium was packed (but not sold out) and it was like some sort of mega church event. Seeing this film, in this version, in this presentation, after all these years was moving, riveting, exciting and satisfying, and as many as people need to experience it, it was one of the greatest theatrical experiences in my recent memory (and probably my life).

I held off on re-watching the film (or films/volumes) for a while, and just when I was mentally preparing to do a Kill Bill night, the news came in last year that The Whole Bloody Affair is happening, so I put up some more patience, and it was worth it. Seeing the original volumes in theaters back then was already mind blowing and a memorable experience for teenage me up until today. Re-watching it like this was just as amazing, if not more. Of course I could anticipate everything that happened, silently quoted everything along and giddily jumped up and down in my seat, but it still blew me away, surprised me, moved me and amazed me. The rest of the audience also enjoyed it, the only bummer was that a lot of folks walked out when credits rolled and thus missed out on the post-credits goodies.

Kill Bill as one movie, as it was made and intended, is Quentin at his Quentinest, Tarantino as his Tarantinoest. It’s a love letter to cinema, a wild and crazy journey through genres, the homage of homages. I remember quite well back in the day when shooting began and first reports trickled in, like Harry Knowles‘ review of the script or his set reports from China, how the excitement among film fans grew, to see the ultimate, gargantuan, grindhouse-homage-on-crack Tarantino film. And when it came out, it didn’t disappoint, it fucking rocked. I remember the first teaser trailer that hit the net, that we played in small size, on repeat, over our shitty dial-up connections. Those were the days. And these were some of the memories that were with me re-watching it.

As for the film, it does unfold magnificently as one piece. Gone is the cliffhanger, of course, and it feels a lot more like a journey of revenge. The ending has all the more impact (minus the one year wait time to see the second half of the film) and the characters feel a lot more intact because your memories of their roles are at the most four hours old and thus fresh. I was especially blown away once more by the craftsmanship, the different styles, the locations, the music – holy ass the music – and the choreography. But, I have to say, what really stuck with me this time was how great of a performance David Carradine delivered. I was never a connoisseur of his body of work, and to this day I am still not, but nothing I’ve seen of him compares to this. He plays this like the greatest thespian that ever existed while during his lifetime he was never really recognized as an A-list actor. To my chagrin, Quentin didn’t re-integrate the Bill flashback when he fights Michael Jay White, though, as it would have been a blast seeing Carradine fight it out in 70MM. Was there something I didn’t like? To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of the new anime sequence of O-Ren hacking some dude to pieces in an elevator shaft, it felt a bit out of place to me, but otherwise, the only downside about The Whole Bloody Affair really is that you can’t just watch this in 70MM every weekend.

Unclear if Quentin will read this (he might). Kill Bill has always been my favorite film of his, and TWBA reconfirms this sentiment, to me. If someone were to ask me what cinema is to me, and how cinema should feel, I would show them this film. But it’s the meta cinema kind: film digesting film, film representing film, film honoring film and film oozing cinema history and heritage in every frame. Yes, it’s always been the case that only a fraction of Quentin’s audience will probably get most of the reference and thus miss out on a lot of the “aha” moments and little homages, but even without that, and especially with Kill Bill, here’s a film that has such a strong, stubbornly unique and creative voice that just screams cinema. To me, once more, this was one of the great theatrical experiences of my lifetime, and the really great ones I can probably count on one hand (others are seeing Apocalypse Now Redux on a big screen, Villeneuve’s Dune, the Berlin premieres of Quentin’s other films, Apollo 13 and Saving Private Ryan as a teenager, the Rolling Roadshow of the Dollars Trilogy down in Spain, and so on).

Back-and-white versus color: the House of Blue Leaves

Seeing the infamous fight scene, which must count among cinema’s best modern day fight sequences, in full color, is quite something. Not only is it a tad more uncensored in this version (the Japan version was always in full color and featured a few shots removed), but the color makes it so much more violent. It is a joy, but it may be too much for some. I have to say, I didn’t hate it, and I quite enjoyed it, but there’s always a special place in my heart for the “original”, black-and-white trick Quentin employed, that I had also already read in the script.

Because it doesn’t fit here in its entirety, I wrote a separate blog post on why when it comes down to it I prefer the black-and-white version (read it and come back or skip it):

Why I prefer the black-and-white version of Kill Bill’s big sword fight

To my chagrin, by the way, I missed out on visiting the restaurant Gonpachi during a recent trip to Tokyo, it’s advertised as the “Kill Bill restaurant” because apparently it stood model for the House of Blue Leaves. So if you visit Japan (which you really should), don’t make my mistake; make a reservation and go there.

Finally publishing an old fan review

But there’s something else I want to mention/publish here, that’s been just as many years in waiting. Back in 2013, when fans worldwide were still eagerly awaiting this version of Quentin’s epic revenge story to hit home video formats, or wondering if that would ever happen at all, there were rare screenings every now and then. Festivals, specials events and of course the odd screening at the New Bev. We had one fan, Mike Zaleski (not sure if you will read this, twelve years later), back then posting a review of a screening on our old (now inactive) Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair Facebook page (but you do follow our main one, we hope, and look for us on BluSky!), that we wanted to share with you back then but couldn’t (whatever legal or other restrictions were in place 13 years ago are a thing of the past with the movie now out officially), but we had saved it, and well, here it is:

Saw Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair yesterday and it took me by surprise. There are entirely new and extended/shortened scenes, some new characters, the rhythm is finer and more consistent, the structure has been changed for the better, and the ending is entirely different (again, with new scenes) and much better. In fact, and I never thought a Tarantino movie would do this to me, it made me cry. The new ending gives the rest of the film behind it a richer feel in retrospect and makes for an entirely new movie in some ways. Also, for the record, I thought Volume 2 was kind of dull and too long when I saw it years ago but in The Whole Bloody Affair, he shaves about 15 minutes off of what would have constituted Volume 2 and gives it a fresher, faster feel. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts in this case. Even though it was 3 hours and 50 minutes (with intermission) I could have watched it again right away. It’s a pretty perfect movie and the new ending packs a resonant wallop. I got the feeling that Tarantino had to rush editing to get Volumes 1 and 2 into theaters and with this he was able to take his time and make the film the way he wanted it to be. If it comes to a theater near you, don’t miss it.”