Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Review

I gotta say I was coming in knowing about where I stand on Tarantino movies. There have been some high hits for me personally, but nothing ever completely stuck the landing. With Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I think Tarantino has revised and rethought some of his approaches and has made something especially great.

From the first few moments of the film, you’re approached with an environment of the late 60s; hippies, bell-bottom jeans, studio movie sets, the hills, etc are all present and accounted for. You’re greeted with DiCaprio’s current gig, Rick Dalton, a TV cowboy who’s quickly becoming a “has-been” and getting beat up by the younger, rising stars. This sets the stage for Tarantino to create all sorts of narrative threads including his everpresent homages to spaghetti westerns and Hollywood life. This time, however, it becomes a little more personal. You’re living the lives of these people in a way that hasn’t been present in any of Tarantino’s previous works or references. This is substantially carried out by the fantastic performances from DiCaprio and Pitt, as Cliff Booth, the brawny stunt double to Dalton.

In addition to these performances, Tarantino’s epic carries you through Dalton’s journey to shy away from obscurity and Booth’s tale of both backing up Dalton and serving as Dalton’s foil by being happy and content with his state of affairs. Along the way, there are spectacular performances, a time-period appropriate soundtrack, and cinematography and set design that engrosses you in the environment of late 60s Hollywood. The one true fault I would find in this would be that the pacing can be a little off in places and some performances, such as Margot Robie as Sharon Tate, can be underutilized. Despite these shortcomings, I believe Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to be something truly special, and just perhaps Tarantino’s finest work.

Rating

★★★★★