Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: What Was Tarantino Trying to Say?

Photo Credit: YouTube

Part I: A Slow First Half

**SPOILERS AHEAD - BEWARE! **

Being one of the world's most famous filmmakers -- if not the most famous -- buys you an awful lot of leeway. 

The first third -- and you could argue even the entire first half -- of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is noticeably slow. If I wasn't watching a Quentin Tarantino film, I might have checked out mentally. If I wasn't watching Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie -- exactly the kind of megastars a Tarantino production commands -- I might have given up altogether. 

I know Tarantino was trying to build his three primary characters -- has-been actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), his loyal stuntman Cliff Booth (Pitt) and the late Sharon Tate (Robbie), but there was simply too much lag time. Too many scenes lingered past their expiration dates. There was far too much meaningless "filler" -- and if Tarantino is as great as everyone thinks he is, why did he need so much of it?

When Dalton struggles with his dwindling career in the first half, I couldn't help but think of Tarantino himself. Did QT know he was thin on material, here? When Dalton reads a book that mirrors the fall of his own career, is Tarantino getting extra meta, there?

A couple of scenes are necessary to set up future events -- namely one with a dog, and another with a blow torch -- but much of it feels like wheels spinning. Actually...literally. There are too many extended scenes of characters driving their cars. I'm sure there were artistic reasons; but again, it's filler. 

Mike Moh (as the legendary Bruce Lee) jumps in to provide a temporary jolt of entertainment and excitement, but it doesn't last long. I give the first half of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood a 3 out of 10. 

Part II: A Violent - and Funny? - Conclusion

For me, things started to come together during a quiet-but-illuminating sequence following Tate around Hollywood Hills. She's known for her devastating beauty and burgeoning career as an actress, but she isn't yet a superstar. She decides to pop in to watch a movie she's in, is about to pay for admission, then thinks twice and says, well, what if I'm IN the movie?

Of course, the magic doors open for her, and she begins to enjoy her minor celebrity status. When patrons laugh during the film, she's tickled. Margot is great - Tate comes across as warm, luminescent and entirely unironic. There were many complaints about her lack of lines in the film, but I disagree wholeheartedly - no matter what the tabloids say, Tarantino and Robbie were clearly on the same page, here. Tarantino absolutely wanted us to know that Tate's fate was the wrong fate. She picks up strangers and drops them off at random places. She worries about her neighbors. She's polite with friends, fans and basically everyone. This was a rising star and good person who met an unfair, untimely end. I'm certain Robbie and Tarantino did her family proud. 

DiCaprio also kicks into high gear in the second half, playing many of his lines for well-earned laughs. This is where the early character building pays off -- but again, this is a 2 hour, 40 minute movie that could have been much tighter and better at exactly 2 hours. Yes, many of the second-half punchlines land, but that doesn't mean the first half had to be as slow as it was. 

Pitt has a tense sequence at the Manson family commune, then of course the big finish which rewrites history. I'll leave the specifics of the spoilers out, where that is concerned.

These are three great actors giving good performances, but is Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood a great film?

Part III: What Exactly Was Tarantino Going For?

What was the message, here? Was it all simply a set up to rewrite history, the way Tarantino did in Inglourious Basterds? But that was a much better movie. The dialogue sung. Pitt was in that film, too, and his character (Lt. Aldo Raine) was more entertaining and more memorable. Who was Cliff Booth supposed to be in Once Upon a Time - a relic of the past? A symbol of the old guard? A warrior born in the wrong era? 

So many questions, and so many of those questions appear to have empty answers. 

I enjoyed the second half of the film, and I like the way plot strings tied together, but the entire experience felt empty. If there was a message, I simply don't think it landed. Of course I'll watch this one again in the future, but for now it's a generous 6.5 out of 10. 

Part IV: Frascella Ranks All the Tarantino Films He's Seen

1. Inglourious Basterds: 10 out of 10

2. Django Unchained: 9.5 out of 10

3. The Hateful Eight: 9 out of 10

4. Jackie Brown: 8.5 out of 10

5. Kill Bill: Vol. 1: 7.5 out of 10

6. Kill Bill: Vol. 2: 7.5 out of 10

7. Death Proof: 7 out of 10

8. Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood: 6.5 out of 10

9. Pulp Fiction: 5.5 out of 10

10. Reservoir Dogs: 4.5 out of 10

MY UP-TO-DATE ARCHIVE OF ALL REVIEWS AND SCORES

(The Top 200 series will continue, but the list below includes ALL of my past reviews and scores.)

1. Inglourious Basterds (10/10) - Review Coming Soon
2. Up in the Air (9.5/10)
3. Steve Jobs (9.5/10)
4. Django Unchained (9.5/10) - Review Coming Soon
5. Collateral (9.5/10)
6. No Country for Old Men (9.5/10)
7. The Wrestler (9.5/10)
8. The Drop (9.5/10)
9. Zodiac (9.5/10)
10. Kramer vs. Kramer (9.5/10)
11. Margin Call (9/10)
12. Office Space (9/10)
13. The Hateful Eight (9/10) - Review Coming Soon
14. Hannah and Her Sisters (9/10)
15. Mystic River (9/10)
16. L.A. Confidential (9/10)
17. Lady Bird (9/10)
18. Stay (9/10)
19. Gone Girl (9/10)
20. Nocturnal Animals (9/10)
21. 45 Years (9/10)
22. The Edge of Seventeen (9/10)
23. Bernie (9/10)
24. Lucky Number Slevin (9/10)
25. Tape (9/10)
26. A Perfect Murder (9/10)
27. Wanderlust (8.5/10)

28. War Dogs (8.5/10)
29. The Founder (8.5/10)
30. Jackie Brown (8.5/10) - Future Review
31. In Bruges (8.5/10)

32. Split (8.5/10)

33. Bad Moms (8.5/10)

34. Basquiat (8.5/10)
35. Love, Actually (8.5/10)

36. Moonlight (8/10)
37. Pretty Woman (8/10)
38. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (7.5/10) - No Review Available
39. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (7.5/10) - No Review Available
40. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (7.5/10)

41. The Revenant (7.5/10)
42. The Good Shepherd (7.5/10)

43. The Shallows (7.5/10)
44. Focus (7.5/10) 

45. The Night Before (7.5/10)
46. The Walk (7/10)

47. 10 Cloverfield Lane (7/10)
48. Loving (7/10) - No review available
49. Death Proof (7/10) - No review available
50. Hail, Caesar! (7/10) - No review available
51. Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (6.5/10)
52. A Most Violent Year (6.5/10) - No review available
53. The Shape of Water (6/10) - discussed in this review
54. The Boy (6/10) - No review available
55. The Accountant (6/10) - No review available
56. Bridge of Spies (6/10) - No review available
57. The Firm (6/10) - No review available
58. Muhammad Ali: Say My Name (6/10) - No review available

59. Joy (5.5/10)
60. Taking Lives (5.5/10) - No review available

61. La La Land (5.5/10)
62. Pulp Fiction (5.5/10) - Future Review
63. The Visit (5/10) - discussed in this review
64. The Mule (5/10) - No review available
65. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (5/10)
66. Make Love Great Again (5/10) - No review available
67. Molly's Game (5/10)
68. Set It Up (5/10)
69. Get a Job (5/10) - No review available
70. The Interpreter (5/10) - No review available
71. Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars (5/10) - No review available
72. Reservoir Dogs (4.5/10) - Future Review
73. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (4.5/10) - No review available
74. Brooklyn (4.5/10) - discussed in this review, and this review
75. Ocean's 8 (4/10)
76. Everything Must Go (4/10) - No review available
77. Why Him? (3.5/10) - No review available
78. The Program (3/10)
79. Open Water 3: Cage Dive (3/10) - No review available
80. Pitch Perfect 3 (2/10)
81. Shut In (2/10) - No review available
82. Premonition (2/10) - No review available

83. Rings (1.5/10)
84. Mother's Day (1.5/10)
85. I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (0/10) - No review available