REVIEW: Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is the Quintessential Quentin Tarantino Film

Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood is a Quentin Tarantino film to a “T”. Set within the backdrop of 1960s Hollywood, the film is saturated with the Tarantino style of filming that leaves an audience captivated even during the most intense of scenes.

Tarantino does what he does best in this film, creates an alternate reality that is based in a time in history. In this film, it’s the summer of 1969 and the viewers follow as veteran Hollywood Star Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his stuntman Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, cling to their once glorious lives while trying to accept the fact that their time in the spotlight has run out. All the while, rising star Sharon Tate, played by Margot Robbie, is only just beginning her step into fame without knowing what little time she has left. Through it all, America is at war with Vietnam, hippies are among the elite, and Charles Manson has begun his cult at Spahn Ranch.

However, unlike his past films, this one feels almost tame. Tarantino spends a majority of the film focusing on the relationship between Dalton and Booth, instead of the blood and violence. The downfall of these two industry blokes and their need to cling on to something of worth, which is one another, is truly heartfelt and showcases that not everything in the 1960s was peace and love.

Pitt and DiCaprio are wonderful in this film. The chemistry these two have with one another and with the few that they interact with throughout the film is superb. With DiCaprio playing an alcoholic actor on the edge of losing his mind and Pitt playing a laid-back stuntman, the two manage to balance one another out in a way that makes both characters likable. Margot Robbie is extremely underused as Sharon Tate and is merely a plot piece with only a handful of lines. For the life that Sharon Tate had, this film does nothing for it, but merely show that she was an up and coming actress with an interest in younger looking men.

Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning, and Maya Hawke play secondary characters that are all features in the Manson “Family” at one point or another. Their times on screen are short and few, but each one does a great job with the material they were given.

Filled with blood, drugs, foul language, a multitude of 1960s nostalgia, and A+ acting, Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood is the quintessential Quentin Tarantino film.

Grade: B+