Quentin Tarantino is wildly known by many (including me) as one of the most ingenious filmmakers working today. He changed the word “cinema” forever in every shape of form after winning his Palme D’or award for “Pulp Fiction” at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994.
Two weeks ago, I saw his latest flick “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in 70MM at my all time favorite theater in Chicago being the Music Box Theater. Not to lie, I was kind of let down at some aspects whilst being a well-made movie. After screening it, I soon thought to myself, “Ehhh…I might see it again at my local theater.” I had room last week to give it another shot.
After viewing “Hollywood” two more times, it is definitely a personal and mature film from Tarantino showcasing the last years of the golden age of Hollywood. However, for me, it is definitely not one of his best.
Set in 1969 in Hollywood, California (obviously), Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) are both respectively an actor and a stunt man for movies as well as television shows. For Rick’s perspective, he thinks that he is a has-been actor since in the early ’60’s, “Bounty Law” was one of the hip shows of that fictional time.
The movie goes through many sub-plots during the first two acts where it mostly encompasses the last living days of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), where as she is in a scene in the movie, Tate is willing to get a ticket to her own movie she starred in called “The Wrecking Crew” with Dean Martin. Not to tell you that she hooked up with director Roman Polanski (obviously coming off from “Rosemary’s Baby”).
With all that being said, it is (sort of) the exact same viewpoint I have with Tarantino’s 2009 film “Inglorious Basterds”, but maybe better than that film.
The first two acts I can see people getting turned off by its extremely slow pacing. I wasn’t really quite in love with it as well although the acts had their strong moments including a really hysterical trailer hissy-fit. It really takes a while to get Tarantino’s point of the movie. There are scenes where Rick Dalton is shooting a western where it clearly takes me right out of the movie.
It honestly felt like something director Richard Linklater would collaborate with Tarantino.
No spoilers, but the third act is immensely insane from start to finish where it felt like a entirely different movie in terms of tone. That is where it really felt like a Tarantino film. The humor was more prominent and it had a huge sense of energy to it.
Leonardo DiCaprio does a really good job characterizing Rick Dalton’s personality. However, I don’t think this will go down in the next 20 (or even 50) years as one of his best performances. Something like “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, “Titanic”, and “The Revenant” speaks a memorable DiCaprio performance. I didn’t think of career-best when watching this movie.
Brad Pitt might as well gives out the best performance in this movie as stuntman Cliff Booth. His character has such a down-to-earth personality while performing some of the most crazily intrusive stunts I have seen in a while.
The soundtrack, look, and feel of 1969 is incredibly authentic to the point where it is not a movie released in 2019. Using music from Simon & Garfunkel, Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones, The Mamas & the Papas, and even nostalgic radio ads, I felt like I was time-traveled watching a movie from 1969.
I would definitely consider Robert Richardson’s amazing scenic views to be nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar.
Margot Robbie was decent as Sharon Tate, but unfortunately, I wish there was something more vital to her character. I appreciated more of Bruce Dern as (what could have been played by the late Burt Reynolds) the ranch owner George Spahn than Robbie.
Speaking of this, Bruce Dern definitely needs to get more credit as George Spahn despite not being in it that much (same goes for Al Pacino). He defines an old man just basically forgetting things which comes off as humor, too.
One more small positive thing about the movie is that the makeup needs award consideration. Mike Moh looks exactly like Bruce Lee. Margot Robbie looks exactly like Sharon Tate. Damian Lewis looks exactly like Steve McQueen. It is unbelievable how close these actors looked like those legends.
The aspect that definitely hurts the movie from being great is that the film is INCREDIBLY misleading.
It was supposed to be more about not just Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth’s struggle in the last year of the Golden Age, but also about the horror of the Sharon Tate murder. Tarantino showed that he can be violent in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Django Unchained”, but other than the last act, why not in this film? It does kind of show some weak writing spots from Tarantino.
That is why I always consider “Pulp Fiction” his masterpiece. It intertwines every character’s stories that lead into the diner shooting and that is why people remember “Pulp Fiction” to this very day.
I am very surprised coming out of this film that I now consider “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” to be somewhat one of his weakest films. It was a good movie that lacked a ton of ambition compared to Tarantino’s other works. I kind of want him to stop after “Kill Bill: Vol. 3”.
Grade: 7/10
