Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Kill Bill: Volume 2 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 27, 2025

Note: Lionsgate continues its more than occasionally head scratching "strategy" in terms of its 4K UHD releases. It is bringing out four new SteelBook 4K UHD editions of well remembered Quentin Tarantino films, with three of those films being new to 4K UHD, and which are also being offered in new standard packaging wide releases. The fourth film, Reservoir Dogs, has already had a wide 4K UHD release, and is joining its mates in new SteelBook packaging only. The SteelBooks are available on Lionsgate's new Lionsgate Limited site.

Kill Bill: Volume 2 had an early release on 1080 Blu-ray. As with many of the other Tarantino titles, this film has been re-released several times in the interim, but our Kill Bill: Volume 2 Blu-ray review of the 2008 (!) premiere should provide enough plot information for anyone wanting a recap.

Those who keep track of scores will note mine are slightly adjusted from the original 1080 review scores, based both on personal opinion but also the realization that 2008 reactions to quality might be tempered a bit by the look of things in 2025.

Kill Bill: Volume 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots 1 through 4 are sourced from the 1080 disc in this package. Screenshots 5 through 8 are sourced directly from the 4K UHD disc, but of necessity have been downscaled to 1080 and SDR, so color reproduction in particular is not accurate looking.

Kill Bill Volume 2 is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.40:1. A lot of what I'm about to discuss may constitute a "broken record award" since I'll be repeating some of the same reaction as I shared in my Kill Bill: Volume 1 4K Blu-ray review. While perhaps not quite as visceral as with the first volume (maybe somewhat hilariously since some fans aren't as fond of this second "chapter" as they are of the first), the consensus in Forum from folks who were able to secure their copies before Lionsgate sent me my review copy have not been especially positive (and that's being generous), but I'm once again going to be at least something of a contrarian (what else is new?), as in fact I was with my review of the first volume's 4K UHD presentation. As I mentioned in the review of Volume 1, I typically don't include 4K screenshots if a package has a 1080 disc, since the necessities of downscaling and SDR just don't offer an accurate presentation, but due to the discussion these releases have engendered, I've included some from both discs so that those interested can do scrutinizing of their own. This did not benefit from the new 4K scan of the original camera negative granted Jackie Brown 4K, and so I think expectations should probably automatically be adjusted (lowered?), similarly to Volume 1. Once again, I'd argue that it's the palette that gets the most immediately noticeable improvements here courtesy of HDR / Dolby Vision, and there are some simply gobsmacking moments, as in the interstitials featuring the deep red backgrounds. Shadow detail is also arguably improved in the many dark or dimly lit scenes that permeate the story telling in this volume. Detail levels are typically great throughout, though there are certainly variances in clarity and grain quality, once again due at least in part to the wide variety of stocks that were employed for the shoot. That may therefore understandably offer much grittier and less finely detailed sequences as the ones seen in screenshots 2 and 6, to cite just two examples. Aside from some of the same motion anomalies that I discuss in a bit more detail in my review of Volume 1 in 4K UHD, and which are repeated here, one further potential problem area for some viewers may be the HDR / Dolby Vision accounting of the black and white footage in this film, which to my eyes just doesn't have the high contrast pop that the 1080 version has, and even the 4K UHD version of Volume 1 could display. As I also mentioned in my review of the 4K UHD Volume 1, Tarantino evidently approved all of these new 4K versions, for whatever that's worth, to which some may respond, "Did he tell James Cameron 'hold my beer'?"

Kill Bill: Volume 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kill Bill Volume 2 offers a suitably bombastic companion piece to Volume 1 with another really fun and consistently immersive DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Yes, as I mentioned in my review of Volume 1, Tarantino may have rather incredibly turned things "up to 11" even more in some subsequent films than he did in these two, but there is really energetic surround activity throughout the story, and not necessarily even in the expected action sequences (which are indeed a whirlwind of sonic activity). Pay attention, for example, to the really interesting sound design accompanying the "buried alive" sequence for both discrete channelization and what might be termed "coffin ambience". Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Kill Bill: Volume 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Both the 1080 and 4K UHD disc sport the same legacy supplements. The UHD upscales the interlaced SD presentations to putative HD but comes with a quality warning:

• The Making of Kill Bill Volume 2 (SD; 26:03)


• "Damoe" Deleted Scene (SD; 3:37)


• "Chingon" Musical Performance (SD; 11:32)

Kill Bill: Volume 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kill Bill Volume 2 seems to be the "less favored child" of at least some fans of the two Kill Bill outings, though there are others who are ardent champions of this particular second time around. I have always loved the gonzo proclivities of both films, and I highly enjoyed revisiting them both in 4K for purposes of these reviews. My general reaction to 4K UHD presentations of both of the Kill Bill films is largely the same, namely that, yes, there are some passing issues, especially with some fast motion anomalies, but there are also some decided positives, like a really sumptuous palette (at least in the color sections) and some appealing detail levels. With caveats noted, Recommended.