KILL BILL: The multiple versions thread (6 from Miramax; Japanese, SEs, etc.) (1 Viewer)

[Ed St. Clair]

Thanks Sam.
So it will be only a half decade wait!

 

[Haden]

They should have cross-promoted it with Grindhouse then, considering the similar inspirations for both.I can't believe we've been waiting over 4 years for this thing and probably another year if we're lucky. Pathetic.

 

[Paul D G]

...and "not before 2009" does not mean it's coming out in 2009, it just means it's not coming out this year.

 

[Bryan^H]

Although I'm disappointed TWBA won't be out this year, I can wait. I'm happy to have both dvd's for now. About Tarantino procrastinating: Yes he does tend to take a while between films, but when Inglorious Bastards finally hits theaters I'm guessing it'll be super worth the wait. The man knows how to make great(original) movies plain and simple.

 

[Matthew H]

So with the lack of The Whole Bloody Affair, I'm sick of waiting. I'd like the BD but I'd like the ultimate collection...

What's the best version of which??? I don't really feel like rifling through this whole thread..

 

[TravisR]

In North America, there's only one release of each movie on DVD and upcoming on Blu-Ray so there isn't much choice.

Also, there's also a legimate DVD release of the uncut version of Volume One from (I believe) Japan.

 

[Matthew H]

Oops. I should've specified.

Any Region. I figure'd Japan would get a nice release.

 

[TravisR]

As far as I know, there isn't a special edition anywhere. If you're region free, I'd say pick up Volume One from Japan and buy the R1 DVD for Volume Two.

Also, the Blu-Ray for both movies come out on September 9 but Volume One isn't the uncut version.

And be sure to get confirmation that the uncut V1 is indeed a Japanese release since I'm just going off of my failing memory that I got my copy from Japan.

 

[cafink]

The Japanese DVD release of Volume 1 indeed contains the uncut version with the full-collor "House of Blue Leaves" segment and all the other goodies. It's definitely worth the purchase if you're a fan of the film.

Also, it doesn't seem to be as widely known, but the Japanese DVD release of Volume 2 actually contains a slightly different cut than its North American counterpart. It's very minimal, though, and doesn't have anything to do with explicit content as do the changes to Volume 1. Considering the cost to import, you'll probably want to stick to the domestic release, but there is a very slight difference if that matters to you.

 

[ChrisKe]

The last post prompted me to imdb for the alternate version and so I thought I would post this:

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) - Alternate versions

 

[cafink]

I didn't think to mention this earlier, but the Japanese DVDs have one serious flaw for English-speakers: the subtitles. Kill Bill features a fair amount of Japanese dialogue, subtitled in English. The Japanese DVD does have an English subtitle track, but it contains subtitles for the whole movie. There's no option to have subtitles only for the Japanese-language scenes. So your choices are having no subtitles at all, having subtitles throughout the whole movie, or switching the subtitles on for the Japanese scenes and then back off (which will surely entail a bit of rewinding unless you know the movie really well, in which case you could probably make do without the subtitles, anyway). None is a particularly appealing option, but a lot of folks think the uncut Japanese version of Volume 1 is worth the trade off. The minor edits to Volume 2 are certainly not worth the hassle, though.

 

[David (C)]

I always felt that the odd plus side of viewing a Japanese import whether laserdisc or dvd was the Japanese subtitles.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Hope we can believe in - Tarantino talks Kill Bill redux • Blog Archive • The Quentin Tarantino Archives

 

[ChadMcCallum]

I'll believe it when its on store shelves but I'm interested in seeing the new animated sequence. I like O-Ren the best out of all the D.V.A.S.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Heh, looking at this old thread, all those grandiose plans haven't exactly worked out, have they? And it was precisely the promise of an uber-set in due course that made me hold off from the individual releases in the first place, so to this day I haven't bought any Kill Bill release at all. That's one lost sale...