Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Movie Review
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a 2019 historical drama film directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. It’s the director’s worst film.
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“What the hell are you looking at,
you little ginger-haired fucker?“
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The film follows a friendship between a stunt double and a failing actor while also focusing on Sharon Tate and the Manson family. Let’s start with the messiness that is this film’s “plot”. For a film that is supposed to be about Sharon Tate, it is entirely misjudged in both her treatment and the treatment of her death. She stays alive in the movie, and the ending is just a series of gross-out, gruesome scenes where these two guys murder everyone from the family with such apparent ease that seemed incredibly realistic and simply stupid.
The friendship between the two protagonists is fine, and the two actors share a terrific chemistry. However, their characters aren’t developed all that well, though Dalton certainly has his moments, and an interesting story of failing popularity. Leonardo DiCaprio is pretty good in the role, and Brad Pitt is also very good and cool, but there is not much there when it comes to his surface character unfortunately.
But the worst one is Sharon Tate played well by Margot Robbie, but still this is so beneath her talents, and I honestly do not understand why she even signed up for this role in the first place when it’s so horrible. She is constantly objectified in the movie, and she did not get all that many lines either. Robbie was there to just smile and look pretty which is the main reason why this movie looks so dated and offensive, especially for this time. And simply for such an important actress and figure for this story to be relegated to this was inexcusable.
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Even worse maybe is how he portrayed Bruce Lee. This not only seemed racist, but to me even more so like a very personal attack on a famous actor that seemed misguided and simply inappropriate in every way. That entire sequence was too ridiculous to bear.
The Manson family and Tate felt oddly incorporated into a movie that was supposed to be about them, but it’s not even about Dalton and Booth because even their stories get lost in the mix later on. The movie has a huge number of characters and subplots, and none leave a more lasting impression. I did like that little girl, though. She was so memorable and her part was the most interesting of the bunch. It has its moments of interest, but those are so few unfortunately.
I usually not only like, but love Tarantino movies which is why this one felt so disappointing to me. It’s a mess on every level, though there are great technical aspects to be admired per usual coming from him. The cinematography is great, the production design is splendid, the soundtrack is very fun and the film recreated 1969 Hollywood really well. It’s just that the script behind it was so mediocre, the film has nothing to say or state about the movie business of this time period, and it’s just a series of unconnected or badly connected vignettes without any purpose to them whatsoever.
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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is just a bad movie, there is no other way to say it. Yes, it’s technically polished and it has its strong sequences (the part with the little girl was particularly strong), but it mostly consists of a series of badly connected vignettes with no point to them whatsoever. The film is aimless and messy in every conceivable way, especially in structure and pacing. It’s also casually racist and wildly sexist as its portrayal of women is questionable to say the least. It pains me to say this because I usually love Tarantino’s movies, but this is his only truly bad effort. I just don’t know what he was thinking when making this shapeless, pointless waste of time.
Yeah this director kind of irks me. I like his movies quite a bit and I loved Kill Bill when I saw it years ago. I saw Django Unchained yesterday and really liked it, but I was frustrated by the slow middle parts that are filled with too much dialogue. The beginning and ending were great though. On one page you have on your site, you said that Django and Inglorious Basterds were your favorites by the man(I respect as I liked Django too). I find the symbols to mean nothing most of the time. On the internet and in real life, people always talk about how this guy is one of the best directors of all time and that Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece. I quite admire that film, but I do not see it as the GOAT for movies(I actually admire certain french movies more). Tarry also has a tendency of repeating himself to the point that his movies all feel the same. The music choices however are superb, the dialogue is still great when it does not drag, and I kind of like the violent scenes. I feel mixed towards this director as in all of his movies there are the good parts and the throwaway parts. I have not seen his most recent movie, but I would still like to make a comment about this director I have mixed feelings for.
I actually really like Tarantino and I find his dialogue to be the best part of each of his movies. With that being said, I did find that some of his movies are overrated and not great with Reservoir Dogs and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood springing to mind instantly. Inglorious Basterds is my favorite with Django coming in second. I also love Pulp Fiction, though of course I would never call it one of the best films of all time. 1994 had two of those movies – Pulp and Shawshank that are both excellent, but so overhyped and talked about constantly that they both became overrated in a way.
Yeah, this director quite irks me. I have not seen his most recent film, but I have seen Django Unchained yesterday. I liked the theme song, and the shooting scenes, but was frustrated by the boring middle part with the dinner scene. I was quite happy with the ending though when Django kills the henchmen, blows up the building, and saves his wife. My favorite Tarantino movie is the Kill Bill series. I find it annoying that everyone on the internet and in real life considers this guy a genius and that Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece. I quite admire Pulp Fiction, and it had memorable scenes, but it does not connect with me. If anybody says anything bad about him or his movies toward his fans, then they will rip them up as if I was a big idiot who knows nothing. I like certain aspects such as music choices, shooting scenes, and also homages, but I just do not like the characters shown in his movies(I was waiting for Leonardo Dicaprio’s character to die in Django), but I do not like the overly-complicated nature of the films. I actually quite enjoyed the similar director of Wes Anderson more since his movies seem more for me and are nicer looking. I have mixed feelings towards Tarantino.