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Dec 9, 2025
I saw 'Kill Bill' for the first time the way Quentin Tarantino intended
The Mary Sue
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, the recut version of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2, is in theaters for the twentieth anniversary. The Mary Sue sent me, intrepid reporter Leah Marilla Thomas, to watch it for the first time in this fashion.
That's right. I had not seen Kill Bill Vol. 1 or Vol. 2 before this month. There's no good explanation as to why. I was more or less a fan of the auteur growing up. I watched Pulp Fiction in film studies. Inglourious Basterds was a seminal theater-going experience for me in college. I'm a Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood ending defender. If asked, I could explain how Tarantino's reference-y dialogue changed film and television. But for whatever reason, this piece of millennial pop culture was not one of my own touchstones.
Unfortunately, this is not the best week to be hawking Tarantino opinions, but what can you do? #TeamPaulDano or whatever. He's seemingly always saying sh*t these days. Still, here's what I learned watching Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair and experiencing this revenge epic fresh in 2025.
One of the things I wanted to track while watching for the first time was what film studies and cultural osmosis/the general zeitgeist had taught me about this film. Here's what I already knew:
Alright, so you know how the Star Wars "machete order" keeps new audiences from discovering that Darth Vader is Luke's father before Luke when they watch the prequels and original trilogy combined? The Whole Bloody Affair omits a certain detail about the Bride that the audience originally learns at the end of Vol. 1 and she learns at the end of the sequel. Now, the audience learns that is [redacted] at the same time she does. I'm pleased to report that it properly surprised me! I can live without a great cliffhanger when the conclusion happens after a fifteen minute intermission.
As for other changes, I obviously didn't know what footage was new, but no chapter felt like it overs
