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'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' Has Good Performances and a Unique Style, but Fails to Tell a Compelling Narrative

No spoilers!

By Jonathan SimPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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I've now watched this movie twice and I'm ready to share my thoughts. But let's begin with our opening joke.

Can someone set a restraining order to keep Tarantino away from every pair of feet in the world? Because it's getting a bit concerning at this point.

Here We Go!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a comedy-drama written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Leonardo Dicaprio as aging actor Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt as his stunt double, who need to remain relevant in the changing landscape of Hollywood in 1969.

This movie premiered at Cannes earlier this year, and apparently, it got a seven-minute standing ovation or something. Personally, you couldn't pay me to stand and clap for seven straight minutes, but anyways, my opinion on this movie is positive, but not as positive as everyone else.

Firstly, the performances are great all across the board. Leonardo Dicaprio gives a great performance in everything he does, and while this isn't his best or most memorable performance, it's still very good and he completely brings the character of Rick Dalton to life.

His Southern accent is so spot-on that both times, I forgot that it wasn't real because I was so immersed in Dicaprio's performance. Pitt and Robbie are also good, but I feel like Robbie's talents were a bit wasted in this movie, as she doesn't contribute a lot to the actual story.

As per usual with a Tarantino film, it has a very unique, distinct style that I think is a bit of fun. But my issue with this movie is mainly the fact that it's a pretty slow-paced movie.

The first 80% of the movie does not have many story beats. It's just three storylines, one with Dicaprio, one with Pitt, and one with Robbie, and they don't really seem to have a real point to them until the film's ending, which is when the movie actually connects to the Manson murders.

It was just a bit disappointing because here's the thing: I know this is a Tarantino movie, and his style is very unconventional for what we're used to in a film. But I just don't think the story flows perfectly well because it doesn't really have a compelling narrative to me.

Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth are two characters that are fun to watch on screen. I love the chemistry that Dicaprio and Pitt share, and their friendship feels very real. A stand-out scene is a scene where they're watching one of their old movies and just talking about it as they watch.

But these characters don't really have any arcs. They don't change throughout the movie, and I felt like there were a good amount of opportunities for character-building moments that were just missed.

The film does have a good amount of charming scenes, though. There's a scene where Rick Dalton is talking with a little girl and a scene where he's beating himself up for a lackluster performance, and I LOVED Dicaprio's performance in these scenes and how he was able to portray this character.

The final act of this movie is pretty interesting. Tarantino made the choice of transitioning from the second act to the third act by suddenly relying on a narrator, which felt incredibly random and out-of-place in a movie that didn't require narration to enhance its story.

It felt like he could have given us these scenes without a narrator to give us exposition, but after that, once the Manson murders get brought into the mix, this film becomes incredible. I won't say what happens, but it's just exactly what I never even knew I wanted from this movie.

Tarantino is, without a doubt, a very skilled director. Scenes in this movie utilize long takes, and it's not always noticeable just because of how fun and snappy his dialogue is.

It's a very unique film that makes a lot of bold choices, and my biggest issue with the movie is its lack of story and how it can feel slow-paced as a result. I appreciate what he was trying to do, but I prefer a good story over anything.

Scenes are in the movie that don't feel like they add very much. There's a scene where Cliff Booth fights Bruce Lee, and I just found it really unrealistic that Lee wouldn't kick his ass easily, and I didn't see the function of the scene in the story.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think this movie is pretty good, but I don't have this movie in my top ten of the year because of the choices that Tarantino made that are personally not my cup of tea.

I'm gonna give 'Once Upon a Time In Hollywood' an 8/10 (B).

Let me know what you thought of the film. I'm @TheJonathanSim. I know this review is late, but I've needed time to process this film. Hell, I even bumped it up a little.

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About the Creator

Jonathan Sim

Film critic. Lover of Pixar, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Back to the Future, and Lord of the Rings.

For business inquiries: [email protected]

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