The summer movie season wouldn't be complete without the release of a Quentin Tarentino movie. With that comes the 9th film in his career that goes back to his start with Reservoir Dogs in 1992. While that film was his beginning, it was 1994's Pulp Fiction that put him on the map earning him an Oscar for Best Screenplay. He then followed that up with 1997's Jackie Brown, 2003 and 2004's Kill Bill's Vol 1 and 2, 2007's Death Proof, 2009's Inglorious Bastards, 2012's Django Unchained and 2015's The Hateful Eight. With the release of a Tarentino film, fans know they're not just getting a film, they're getting an experience that's wild, entertaining, over-the-top, and extremely well-acted, directed, and written. With the release of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, fans expect nothing but top notch quality from one of the master filmmakers of Hollywood, whom to this day still hasn't produced a single bad movie. So the question on audiences mind is does Once Upon A Time In Hollywood continue that prestigious and Noble trend? The short answer is yes, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a highly entertaining Tarentino flick, that carries with it all the ingredients that makes his movies huge successes, though one can say it might be a little too laid back for Tarentino as it doesn't match some of his previous classics.
The plot for
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood takes place in 1969 Los Angeles with a fading TV Star (Played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double (Played by Brad Pitt) strive to revive their careers with Hollywood's golden age era reaching it's ignoble end. For DiCaprio and Pitt, this marks their second collaboration with Quentin Tarentino with DiCaprio working with him previously in
Django Unchained and Brad Pitt with
Inglorious Bastards. Knowing the writer and directors style as well as being familiar with his work ethic, they play their roles with total confidence and look as if they have free reign in terms of bringing their characters to life.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is to the surprise of none of Tarentino's fans an unrestrained yet extremely well-crafted piece of work from him. The filmmaker is a master in terms of setting up strong main characters while crafting solid narratives, that are also filled with top notch dialogue. In terms of the films entertainment value,
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood dazzles with its scenic direction and great performances from its main actors with a surprise end twist full of extreme violence and mayhem. The film paints a beautiful picture of what Hollywood Los Angeles appeared in 1969 while weaving the Charles Manson murder subplot into the plot. The film reinforces that feel by working other famous directors and movie stars of the time into the film such as random appearances of Steve McQueen, Roman Polanski, and Bruce Lee in a key scene that's both awesome, funny, and extremely controversial given the way the legend is depicted in the film as being arrogant. Its true that
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood doesn't rank among Tarentino's best works such as
Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and
Reservoir Dogs, but it still feels masterfully written and shot despite some questionable approaches with the story.
In the acting category,
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood excels with its cast all turning in terrific performances particularly Leonardo Dicaprio and Brad Pitt in their roles. Out of the two, Dicaprio is the true standout with the meatier role and brings his A Game once again to the role of struggling TV actor Rick Dalton. His character is both likable, sympathetic, and funny as hell at times, particularly the scenes where his character is allowed to act in his different roles as well as the frustration he demonstrates in regards to getting his lines down. Dicaprio brings a lot of depth to his part and really makes the audience appreciate Dalton with his character having one of the best moments in the climax involving a flamethrower. Brad Pitt as usual does well in one of his strongest performances in awhile, playing a cool and laid back Hollywood stunt double whom one would want to hang out and have a beer with. Both actors play off each other so well and deliver outstanding chemistry making the audience aware that they are watching a story revolving around two close friends trying to support one another during a time where Hollywood was on the verge of a transition from the old norm. Margot Robbie does well in her part of playing Sharon Tate despite her character being one of the films most glaring flaws disappointingly. She doesn't have much to do other than appear on the screen, look pretty, and glance at the big screen in the theater in awe at what she see's. For an actress as talented as Robbie, she was severely underused here which makes audiences question what the point of her character being in the film was. The smaller roles in the film also leave notable impressions with the audience with Kurt Russell shining in his minimal part along with Al Pacino as Producer Marvin Schwarz, who informs Dicaprio's character that he's essentially being downgraded in stature in order to pump up the main stars on the projects he works on. Damien Lewis does well as Steve McQueen along with Mike Moh as Bruce Lee despite the controversy surrounding the depiction of his character on film. Dakota Fanning gives an effective yet chilling performance in her brief part as one of Manson's brainwashed girls he has at his ranch with Bruce Dern delivering a nice cameo performance coming off his exceptional work in Tarentino's
The Hateful Eight. Luke Perry and Timothy Olyphant have small roles but do well with what they are given as the story remains focused on Dicaprio and Pitts characters. In terms of acting performances, Tarentino manages to get the absolute best performances out of everyone who appears on the screen in a way that's commanding and shows the respect the actors have for his craft and vision. Despite Robbie's character feeling underwritten, she still shines and is impressive to watch when she does appear on the big screen. Its a nice addition to the cast that Tarentino utilizes actors from his past works such as Russell, Dern, and
Reservoir Dogs Michael Madsen and
Django's James Remar. It almost feels like Tarentino is paying homage to these actors by placing them in another one of his movies showing respect for their worksmanship and craft.
As both director and writer for
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Tarentino once again demonstrates that he is a master at his craft and is in a league of his own in terms of building up plots, establishing strong characters, creating long dialogue-driven scenes that have relevance to them rather than feeling boring, and steadily building up the story and holding back on the mayhem until the end making it the big payoff for both the characters as well as the audience. The emphasis of the story is the theme of friendship and struggling to find work in an environment that's constantly changing. Tarentino doesn't just focus on these men but he takes the audience on a tour through the old Hollywood era in the 1960's at the end of the Golden Age before it went into the 1970's disaster and summer blockbuster era. He takes little snippets regarding the Hollywood trivia at the time and delivers it to the audience while cementing it within the films plot. Another thing that Tarentino is a master at is building up scenes full of tension with Pitts character visiting the home of Charles Manson being a prime example. That scene is executed so we'll with both music and performances that are downright chilling, making the audience question whether Pitts character will make it out of that scene alive. That's not a spoiler but a testament to the masterful filmmaking that went into filming that scene. With both duties, Tarentino does a fantastic job of taking audiences back 50 years to experience the past film industry in the best way the director/writer knows how to present it to his audience. That is doing so with comedy, drama, slick characters, and moments of desire and tension that are all centered around a normal day in Hollywood's classic golden age.
On a technical note,
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood carries with it top notch production qualities that come with a traditional Quentin Tarentino flick beginning with the cinematography. The film is absolutely stunning to look at with the audience feeling like they are truly in Los Angeles during the 1960's Hollywood era. The film is masterfully shot with the art-set decoration and costume design being spot on for the films setting. The soundtrack is effective and fits within the context of the story being over-the-top for Tarentino's style of filmmaking while transporting audiences back to this time period. The films editing remains fairly steady keeping the film moving though its a slow burner compared to some of Tarentino's other films. Here he sets up the characters while interweaving their storylines with true events such as the subplot involving Charles Manson. Audiences going into this expecting the filmmakers trademark violence should know that he doesn't unleash the mayhem until the last part of the story, making it the big payoff in a vein similar to
Inglorious Bastards. While the films pacing may become a test for audiences, die hard fans of Tarentino will appreciate the filmmakers attention to detail with the films plot and establishment of characters before classic Tarentino kicks in within the films final 45 minutes. The film clocks in at nearly three hours running at a grand total of 165 minutes but somehow it doesn't feel that long because Tarentino keeps the audience engaged with whats going on with the characters and the plot. For some audiences though, there might not be enough of a strong plot to warrant such a long time frame to sit in the theater as the film isn't as meaty as Tarentino's other films storywise. Given the type of films Tarentino makes, its actually one of his most restrained films in terms of plot showing the filmmaker himself having fun with the concept but not going as deeper with certain elements such as the Manson subplot as audiences hoped he would've. Regardless of how people feel about the films general plot and creative decisions Tarentino took with the story and characters, one thing that audiences can agree on is in the technical department, Tarentino brings his A game like usual showing the man still knows how to shoot a film.
In the end, this will probably end up being one of his more divisive films as its clearly not a film for everyone much like his other works, but another reason it may not satisfy every Tarentino fan is the fact that he doesn't push the envelope as much here as he did with previous films such as
Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Bastards, Django Unchained, and
The Hateful Eight. He still manages to create a genuinely fun and extremely entertaining experience, but it doesn't rank among one of his best when all is said and done. The performances are great though with Dicaprio and Pitt turning in fantastic roles, but the narrative isn't defined nor fleshed out like Tarentino's usual work. One has to question why he even bothered including the Manson subplot in the story at all as there's little use of it here besides the films terrific climax, which will leave audiences cheering in the end. What saves the story is the clever and witty dialogue that Tarentino is a master at creating as well as the performances delivered by his cast. The technical aspects of the film such as the music, the cinematography, art-set decoration, and costume design instantly draw the audience into the films time period and story with Tarentino setting up these interesting characters and laying out the groundwork for the films outrageous climax. The latter is handled in a style similar to the climax of
Inglorious Bastards, which will entertain most with its desirable alternate fantasy ending but may put off some with its deliberate rewriting of history. In the filmmakers defense, most audiences would rather have the ending of
Inglorious Bastards be the actual end for the Hitler regime compared to reality much like the fantasy ending for Charles Manson's story. Overall,
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is another strong and well-crafted effort from one of this generations most uncompromising filmmakers. The film is simply an everyday tale about the rising and failing of movie stars at the end of old Hollywood while showing people going to the movies back then as an escape from reality in an effort to throw themselves into an alternate reality. The pacing and lack of a deep story will leave some fans disappointed but there's enough humor, great character development, awesome performances, and a slick climax that will keep most fans of Tarentino engaged from start to finish. Even at his most laid back, he still turns out one of the best works of any film this year with potential Oscar nominations in the bag for Leonardo Dicaprio, cinematography, music, art-set decoration, and costume design. If you're a Quentin Tarentino fan and you haven't watched
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood yet, do yourself a favor and judge it for yourself as there's plenty to love about this film despite its minor issues.
Final Verdict: See It especially if you're a Tarentino fan
No comments:
Post a Comment