Kill Bill: Volume 1 – Lionsgate Limited (Steelbook) (4K UHD Review)
- Review Date: Jan 16, 2025
- Format: 4K Ultra HD
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Director
Quentin TarantinoRelease Date(s)
2003 (January 21, 2025)Studio(s)
A Band Apart/Miramax Films (Lionsgate Limited/Lionsgate Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: D+
Review
A young pregnant woman known only as the Bride (Uma Thurman) is rehearsing her wedding in a Texas chapel when a man named Bill (David Carradine) and his “Deadly Viper” assassination squad—which includes O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), and Budd (Michael Madsen)—arrive to kill everyone in the wedding party including the Bride, who it seems was once a member of this squad herself. Years later though, the woman wakes up in a hospital after a lengthy coma, having miraculously survived Bill’s shot to the head. Realizing suddenly what’s happened, and what’s been taken from her, the Bride swears to exact her revenge on Bill and his Vipers by hunting them down one by one. But her path to achieving that revenge will not be easy, nor will it follow a straight line. And before she can begin her terrible quest… the Bride will need a sword.
Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill: Volume 1 is one of those films that you either like or you don’t. The thing is, you can’t really evaluate this film independently of its sequel, Kill Bill: Volume 2 (reviewed here in 4K). So it’s best to think of them as two halves of a larger cinematic whole. And while its story is certainly entertaining, the experience is also long and convoluted, with scenes that jump forward or backward in time, some of them exposition and others lengthy and elaborate action sequences. What’s more, almost everything that happens here is highly theatrical and/or a reference to films and cinematic genres that Tarantino has come to love over the course of his life, including (but in no way limited to) Toshiya Fujita’s Lady Snowblood (1973), Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961), the Zatoichi films, Shaw Brothers actioners like Five Deadly Venoms (1978), The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), and the wuxia classic The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), Francois Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black (1968), Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer (2001), Seijun Suzuki’s Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded to Kill (1967), Osamu Dezaki’s anime Golgo 13 (1983), the 1980 Japanese TV series Shadow Warriors, Sergio Corbucci’s Navajo Jo (1966), the 1966-67 ABC TV series The Green Hornet, and 1970s exploitation films a-plenty. And all that’s just for starters. So if you love these things as well, you’ll probably love Kill Bill. But if you don’t, you’re likely to find it a slog.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 was shot on 35mm film (in Super 35 format) by cinematographer Robert Richardson (JFK, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) using Arriflex 435 and Panavision Panaflex Millennium and Platinum cameras with Panavision Primo lenses, and it was finished as a 2K Digital Intermediate at the 2.40:1 scope aspect ratio for theaters. For its debut on Ultra HD, Lionsgate has upsampled this 2K source—per Tarantino’s choice—and remastered the film digitally, with grading for high dynamic range (both HDR10 and Dolby Vision are available). It’s further been encoded for a BD-100 disc to ensure the highest possible video data rates (which frequent the 70-80 Mbps range).
Note that Lionsgate’s 4K release includes the U.S. Theatrical Version of the film only. There was a Japanese DVD in 2004 that included a so-called Director’s Cut—it featured between one and two minutes of extended violence, as well as alternate shots, and additional footage in the anime sequence. What’s more, the entire “Showdown at House of Blue Leaves” sequence was in color. But this has never been released in the States. Now, it’s important to note here that every single A/V spec and/or special feature on one of Tarantino’s movie discs is there at the direction of the filmmaker and his team. So the Theatrical Cut is obviously the version of the film he wanted included.
The 4K image quality is excellent on the whole, thanks to the high data rate, the new remastering, and the HDR grading. Because it’s an upsample of the original 2K DI though, it’s not quite as impressive as Jackie Brown in 4K (reviewed here, for which the original camera negative was rescanned). But again, this was the filmmaker’s choice. Detail is very good, if somewhat less refined, and the image has a slightly processed appearance here due to its original post production pipeline. But photochemical grain remains in evidence at all times, texturing is solid, and the color palette is stunning—greatly enhanced by the wider gamut. (The Production I.G. anime sequence in particular looks fantastic.) Shadows are deeply black and highlights are pleasingly bold, each retaining a bit more detail than was apparent on the Blu-ray. The 4K image is highly cinematic and let’s be clear: This is definitely the best the film has ever looked before.
Primary audio on the 4K disc is presented in lossless English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio—essentially the exact same 5.1 mix that was included on the original 2008 Blu-ray in uncompressed LPCM format, just re-encoded in DTS. Nothing else has been changed or adjusted. But the mix was terrific then and it remains so now. It features a pleasingly wide forward soundstage with smooth panning, firm and robust bass, and muscular dynamic range. The film’s soundtrack is rife with eclectic musical tracks; the DTS renders them all in excellent fidelity, well blended with the dialogue and effects. A French 5.1 Dolby Digital mix is also available here, as are optional subtitles in English SDH and Spanish.
This new Lionsgate Limited Steelbook package includes the remastered film in 4K on UHD as well as unremastered 1080p HD on Blu-ray (a BD-50, the same disc Lionsgate released in their 2012 Tarantino XX Blu-ray box set, featuring the English 5.1 LPCM mix as well as English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital, with subs in English for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese). Both discs include the following legacy special features:
- The Making of Kill Bill (SD – 22:06)
- The 5.6.7.8’s Musical Performances (SD – 5:52)
- Tarantino Trailers
- Reservoir Dogs (SD – 1:37)
- Pulp Fiction (SD – 2:41)
- Jackie Brown (SD – 2:19)
- Kill Bill: Volume 1 Teaser (SD – 1:50)
- Kill Bill: Volume 1 Bootleg Trailer (SD – 2:34)
- Kill Bill: Volume 2 Teaser (SD – :58)
That’s essentially everything that was on the previous DVD and Blu-ray editions of this film. The featurette is good, but brief and very much of the EPK promotional variety. It’s fun to see a little more of the 5.6.7.8’s musical performances, and the trailers are nice to have as well. All in all, it’s certainly good that this content has carried over. But it’s also not a lot of material, especially compared to other Tarantino titles on disc (think Jackie Brown). Again though, these features were specified by the filmmaker and his representatives. While Tarantino has said previously that he intended to do a special edition package of extras for Kill Bill, he’s now had the opportunity to revisit this title and has chosen not to. So it seems he’s changed his mind. As such, there’s not much point complaining about it now. About the only thing that’s missing here is the content created for the Blu-ray bonus discs in the Tarantino XX box set specific to this film, specifically the Critics’ Corner: The Films of Quentin Tarantino – Kill Bill (HD – 65:14) piece.
I should also take a moment to address the so-called Whole Bloody Affair “supercut” version of Kill Bill, which features this film presented in one long unbroken experience with Volume 2. Tarantino has shown this version a few times theatrically at the New Beverly Cinema he owns in Los Angeles (in the form of a 35mm print with French subtitles that was made for the Cannes film festival), but that’s it. There’s been some speculation to the effect that Tarantino likes the idea of this version remaining “mythical” and a rare experience. I do know that Lionsgate has attempted to license the rights to this version, but so far the director has chosen to make only the U.S. Theatrical Versions available. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen one day, but the point again is that this 4K release is exactly as Tarantino wishes it to be.
Lionsgate’s Steelbook packaging comes in a clear plastic O-card with imagery that aligns with (and enhances) the original art on the Steelbook itself. A Digital Copy code is also included in the case—it redeems on Fandango at Home only.
Heavily rooted in Japanese samurai flicks and HK actioners, Kill Bill: Volume 1 is one of the longest cinematic set-ups of all time—in fact, it’s almost entirely set-up, and tonally very different than the spaghetti western-infused Volume 2, in which this story’s answers are finally revealed. As such, Kill Bill is arguably Quentin Tarantino’s most self-indulgent work, one that lays this director’s unconscious mind bare for all to see. But the action is terrific, the direction is deft, and there can be no doubting this filmmaker’s enthusiasm. Lionsgate’s 4K Ultra HD offers a very good A/V upgrade, if perhaps one that—through no fault of the studio—falls a tad shy of the most optimistic expectations. It’s definitely a must-have 4K release for Tarantino fans though, so miss it at your peril.
- Bill Hunt
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