Production
The Kill Bill films were inspired by exploitation films that played in cheap US theaters in the 1970s, including martial arts films, samurai cinema, blaxploitation films and spaghetti westerns. Kill Bill Volume 1 and Volume 2 were planned and produced as a single film. After editing began, the executive producer, Harvey Weinstein, who was known for pressuring filmmakers to shorten their films, suggested that Quentin Tarantino split the film in two. He said he "loves" the Bride and that he "killed himself to put her in a good place" for the ending.
Music
The Kill Bill: Volume 2 soundtrack includes tracks by Shivaree, Ennio Morricone, Malcolm McLaren, Charlie Feathers, Meiko Kaji and Luis Bacalov. The original score was composed by the filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and the producer RZA.
Release
Theatrical release
thumb|The [[State Theatre (Ann Arbor, Michigan) shows a double feature of Kill Bill Volume 1 and Volume 2.]]
Kill Bill: Volume 2 was released in theaters on , 2004. It was originally scheduled to be released on , 2004, but was rescheduled. Variety posited that the delay was to coincide its theatrical release with Volume 1s release on DVD. In the United States and Canada, Volume 2 was released in and grossed on its opening weekend, ranking first at the box office and beating fellow opener The Punisher. Volume 2s opening weekend gross was higher than Volume 1s, and the equivalent success confirmed the studio's financial decision to split the film into two theatrical releases.
Volume 2 attracted more female theatergoers than Volume 1, with 60% of the audience being male and 56% of the audience being men between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. Volume 2s opening weekend was the largest to date for Miramax Films aside from releases under its arm Dimension Films. The opening weekend was also the largest to date in the month of April for a film restricted in the United States to theatergoers 17 years old and up, besting Lifes 1999 record. Volume 2s opening weekend was strengthened by the reception of Volume 1 in the previous year among audiences and critics, abundant publicity related to the splitting into two volumes, and the DVD release of Volume 1 in the week before Volume 2s theatrical release.
Outside of the United States and Canada, Volume 2 was released in 20 territories over the weekend of , 2004. It grossed an estimated and ranked first at the international box office, ending an eight-week streak held by The Passion of the Christ. Volume 2 grossed a total of in the United States and Canada and in other territories for a worldwide total of . The United States does not have a DVD boxed set of Kill Bill, though box sets of the two separate volumes are available in other countries, such as France, Japan and the United Kingdom. Upon the DVD release of Volume 2 in the US, however, Best Buy did offer an exclusive box set slipcase to house the two individual releases together.
The Whole Bloody Affair
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2004. At the 2008 Provincetown International Film Festival, Tarantino announced that the original cut of Kill Bill, incorporating both films and an extended animation sequence, would be released in May 2009. Screenings began on March 27, 2011, at Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema. The Whole Bloody Affair had a limited theatrical release from July 18 to July 28, 2025, at Tarantino's Vista Theater. Tarantino said he had waited until he owned the rights before giving it a full release, and thought that asking audiences to come to his theater gave it more meaning. The Whole Bloody Affair was theatrically released by Lionsgate in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom on December 5, 2025. It was accompanied by a short animation by Tarantino and Epic Games in the video game Fortnite, in collaboration with The Third Floor, titled The Lost Chapter: Yuki's Revenge.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Kill Bill: Volume 2 holds an approval rating of 84% based on 247 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "Kill Bill: Volume 2 adds extra plot and dialogue to the action-heavy exploits of its predecessor, while still managing to deliver a suitably hard-hitting sequel." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 83 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, a grade up from the "B+" earned by the previous film.
Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4, writing: "Put the two parts together, and Tarantino has made a masterful saga that celebrates the martial arts genre while kidding it, loving it, and transcending it. ... This is all one film, and now that we see it whole, it's greater than its two parts." In 2009, he named Kill Bill one of the 20 best films of the decade.
Accolades
Thurman received a Golden Globe Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama nomination in 2005. Carradine also received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Empire named Kill Bill: Volume 2 the 423rd-greatest film and the Bride the 66th-greatest film character. In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 245.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Awards
|-
! Award
! Category
! Recipient(s)
! Outcome
|-
|rowspan="5"|10th Empire Awards
|-
|Best Film
|Kill Bill: Volume 2
|
|-
|Best Actress
|Uma Thurman
|
|-
|Best Director
|Quentin Tarantino
|
|-
|Sony Ericsson Scene of the Year
|"The Bride" versus "Elle" sequence
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|62nd Golden Globe Awards
|Best Actress – Drama
|Uma Thurman
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actor
|David Carradine
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|2005 MTV Movie Awards
|Best Movie
|Kill Bill: Volume 2
|
|-
|Best Female Performance
|Uma Thurman
|
|-
|Best Fight
|Uma Thurman vs. Daryl Hannah
|
|-
|rowspan="5"|2004 Satellite Awards
|-
|Best Film-Drama
|Kill Bill: Volume 2
|
|-
|Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
|Uma Thurman
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actor – Drama
|David Carradine
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actress – Drama
|Daryl Hannah
|
|-
|rowspan="8"|31st Saturn Awards
|-
|Best Action/Adventure Film
|Kill Bill: Volume 2
|
|-
|Best Actress
|Uma Thurman
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actor
|David Carradine
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actress
||Daryl Hannah
|
|-
|Best Younger Actor/Actress
|Perla Haney-Jardine
|
|-
|Best Director
|Quentin Tarantino
|
|-
|Best Screenplay
|Quentin Tarantino
|
|}
Cancelled sequels
In April 2004, Tarantino told Entertainment Weekly that he intended to make a Kill Bill sequel at least 15 years after the second film. He planned that the character of Nikki would seek revenge on the Bride for killing her mother, Vernita Green, in Volume 1. At the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con, Tarantino said that, after the completion of Grindhouse, he wanted to make two anime Kill Bill films: an origin story about Bill and his mentors, and another origin starring the Bride. In 2007, Bloody Disgusting reported that Volume 3 would involve two killers attacked by the Bride in the first films, and that Volume 4 "concerns a cycle of reprisals and daughters who avenge their mother's deaths". At the 2009 Morelia International Film Festival, Tarantino reiterated that he intended to make a third Kill Bill film. That month, he said that Kill Bill 3 would be his ninth film and would be released in 2014. He said he wanted 10 years to pass to give her and the Bride and her daughter a period of peace.
In December 2012, Tarantino said there would "probably not" be a third film." However, in July 2019, he said that he and Thurman had talked again about a sequel and that "if any of my movies were going to spring from my other movies, it would be a third Kill Bill". That December, Tarantino said he had spoken to Thurman again about the film, and was "definitely in the cards". In June 2021, Tarantino said he was excited about the possibility of Thurman and her daughter, Maya Hawke, playing the Bride and B.B. He also said the characters of Driver, Sofie Fatale and Gogo's twin sister, Shiaki, could appear. Later that month, Tarantino said he did not want to take on more Kill Bill films following the fatigue he endured making the first two. In July 2023, Tarantino said a sequel would not be made.
See also
- Quentin Tarantino filmography