Recently, Tarantino announced that on December 5th he would finally be releasing Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, the mythic original cut of his two part kung-fu, samurai, western, revenge epic in theaters, in 35mm and 70mm flavors. This new release would include a “new” anime sequence that wasn’t finished in time for the film’s release, which at this point I was beginning to think was one of those things the director mentions off the cuff in an interview, that never materializes.
For those not steeped in this lore, Kill Bill was originally intended to be one singular film – before Harvey Weinstein suggested cutting it in two, and it even screened at Cannes that way. If you’ve heard of, or attended a screening of The Whole Bloody Affair, it’s that very same print they screened at Cannes, with its burned in French subtitles and full color House of Blue Leaves battle sequence, but without that second anime sequence.
Don’t get me wrong seeing that print was truly sight to behold as a fan, and when it screened in Philadelphia thanks to Exhumed Films I watched it three times during the weekend of screenings they had back in 2013. It definitely plays differently as a single film and the two halves of a whole really balance each other out. The bloody over the top samurai action of the first half, really paves the way for the soul searching and emotional release of the second film.
So, the fact that we are:
- Getting to see that actually completed cut is definitely a win.
- That it’s finally being released to the general public is also a win, considering Tarantino’s personal print of The Whole Bloody Affair was something that tended to happen primarily at one of his theaters in LA.
- This means an actual physical media release is actually back on the table after it was promised back in SDCC on DVD I believe over 15 years ago.
But why I think we shouldn’t start celebrating just yet, is the VERY underwhelming 4K UHD releases of both films recently on 4k UHD and I have to ask Is this Whole Bloody Affair a whole new restoration? Or is it essentially the same masters previously released on 4K UHD with simply the new footage spliced and blown up to 70mm.
Here’s my bone to pick with these releases.
Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 were both shot on 35mm, yes.
But in keeping with the standard tech at the time, the raw footage was then scanned at the industry standard of 1080p, so now basic HD – edited digitally and outputted back to film prints for screenings. While digital had yet to take over film distribution like it has now, non-linear digital editing already had a foothold in Hollywood at the time. When Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 were released on 4K UHD, Tarantino simply put those pre-existing 1080 digital intermediate file on a 4k disc and called it a day – a format intended for images four times that original resolution. This might not have been as apparent to some, but with the previous 4K upgrades on Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs, it was extremely noticeable and VERY disappointing.
Fans immediately cried foul when Vol 1 & 2 were released and Lionsgate made a very clear statement that this was an intentional choice by Mr. Tarantino, to not rescan, re-edit and restore either film. But to simply release the pre-existing digital intermediate that was used back in 2003.
If you think I am making a mountain out of a molehill, do the Pepsi Challenge with Jackie Brown or Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill on a decent setup and it’s definitely a noticeable difference. Both Dogs and Jackie were sourced from 35mm scans of the original film elements and in particular seeing that Reservoir Dogs scan in a theater, was the first 4K I restoration I saw that showed me what a good filmic 4k digital transfer could look like.
All this to say, before I shell out $30 plus to see Kill Bill in 35mm or 70mm, I want to KNOW if Tarantino actually did a new full out restoration of both films to then combine them. To do this correctly, both films should be rescanned the film in industry standard now 4k or more, given his 70mm target, and re-edited to create a new digital intermediate that could stand being blown up to 70mm, which is roughly 16-18k, so 16 to 18 times the resolution of that original 2003 D.I. Otherwise you’re essentially paying $30+ to watch a Blu-ray, that was turned into a 70mm print, so you could say you’ve seen it on film. Which is not the kind of experience I think this film deserves.
If you’ve seen Oppenheimer on 70mm, you know what the format is capable of when you go film to film, then TO FILM and I think that should be the bar for Tarantino and this restoration to make that final jump to 70mm. But all that said, he could have decided to just restore the Whole Bloody Affair and that’s why he didn’t bother with the single discs and this would have all been for naught. But I think if you’re trying to craft a definitive edition you might as well do it right in both presentation and content and I should say something.
