Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.
‘Once upon a time in Hollywood’ delves into a story and plot which hasn’t really been touched into before, the story of the 1960s film industry and the well known Cult leader Charles Manson. It follows a fictional character named Rick Dalton through his career which gives us the main character to follow and watch through the time period that the famous actress Sharon Tate was murdered by Manson’s cult. Personally, for me, I wasn’t alive during that period and therefore had no idea about those events, which after finding out about the actual story - feels like I need to watch it again to fully engross myself with the plot and characters in the film. Nevertheless, onto the main question - is this film worth watching or not? Here are my thoughts. (Contains Spoilers!)
I’ll start off with what I enjoyed about the film, I thought that we were introduced to not only the characters but also the plot in this film really well. By giving us a really old fashioned film set interview and introducing the two main characters in the same scene, not only did it help to establish who they were but also the way in which they explained their roles of stunt double and actor gave a really clever indication of how the characters would act throughout the film. It also just gave us a really good introduction to the pairs banter and I thought it was really clever to do this through an interview because it helped to really make the film feel authentic from the very beginning. The film is set in the 60s and it feels like that, seeing the reporter advertising various brands and the way characters speak to each other really helps to immerse us in the events and characters of the film. But as well as this, seeing various camera shots of other key characters such as Sharon Tate in the airport with her husband was actually a really clever addition to the film. Because the film gave us a background story of Sharon Tate’s death, whilst giving a main story of Rick to actually follow until the end, helping to ensure that a solid film could be made. I thought that in general, the characters were really great and felt really authentic. Seeing scenes such as when Rick cannot drive and then it cuts to him in a police car saying “I lied, my driving license was taken away because of drink driving” really helps to ensure that the characters actually feel realistic to us, because we have the inside knowledge because of the way that the characters communicate and entertain us. The characters were really authentic though, seeing small things like twitches and stutters from Rick just all combined together to make the film feel realistic and authentic too, they didn’t feel like actors but real people, similarly to a documentary which I thought was really well executed. And similarly they actually feel like they suit their roles, seeing Brad Pitt leaping around on the roof of a house really helped to make us believe that he was playing the role of a stuntman who could perform stunts like that, it felt like it was the little elements like that which really helped to make the characters ‘pop’. I love how well the characters bond together though because this really helps to make the film feel authentic and interesting, from seeing Sharon Tate watching her own film to see responses to Rick forgetting his lines during filming of a new film to Cliff visiting the ranch and meeting Manson’s ‘family’ cult to the exciting fighting scenes at the end - a lot of what makes this film feel exciting is how well the characters feel to us, they feel realistic and exciting and there are plenty of scenes like those I mentioned which really keep the characters feeling exciting and unpredictable. I also loved how the actors in the film just felt so amazing and great in their roles, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt don’t need an introduction, but they were absolutely fantastic here and really made their characters feel unique and exciting in a way that arguably only they can do - seeing how cool the characters felt and how well their chemistry was just felt really authentic and enjoyable to watch and I loved seeing how well they performed their roles, even from simple things like their dialogue and interactions with other characters to fight scenes. Margot Robbie was great too, seeing her emotions whilst watching her own film, and whilst at various parties and events really helped to make her seem like how Sharon Tate was described as “gentle and social” and that really shows well here which makes her as an actress her really shine in her role, even though she isn’t a massive feature of the film. This is Tarantino at the height of his powers. He gets the best performance out of everyone in every part of this movie.
As well as the great character set here, the plot and execution of the film is of a similarly high quality. Once again, I’ll just establish that I wasn’t aware of the events around Sharon Tate so during the film I wasn’t too sure as to why events were happening, but in hindsight I feel that the film was put together perfectly for a variety of reasons which made it interesting regardless. Firstly, the storyline is complex yes, but the way in which it flows is actually really simple and straightforward because many of the scenes are self explanatory as to their purpose and how they lead on from the previous sequence, for example whenever Cliff is driving away we know that the reason he does this is because he isn’t needed because of the awesome fight he has with Bruce Lee. Scenes like this were very important to the film because they were so well executed which made the film really feel exciting, seeing Bruce’s speech was influential enough but when him and Cliff begin fighting then it adds in a bit of excitement and humour that was needed from the film - this also really helped to engage the audience with the film because Cliff began mocking Bruce in a way that made him seem funny and humourous to us. For 2 hrs, 41 minutes, I was taken 50 years back, experiencing Hollywood's film industry as a comedic drama filled with desire, tension and everyday life - it felt realistic, it felt exciting and most of all it made us feel on edge too. The scenes at the ranch are quietly disturbing. Dakota Fanning plays Squeaky, one of the real life Manson girls. Her vacant eyes and cold manner make for some suspenseful moments. This is what I liked about the film, there was a really clever and distinctive feeling between various scenes in the film, there was humour, there was passion, there was suspense and pure levels of horror and these were all combined together to make a great and powerful film which feels thoroughly enjoyable whilst feeling immersive too. One of the best parts of the film comes at the end too which is sure to bring shock to many audiences, a huge twist. Tex, Sadie and Katie decide to go to Rick's house rather than Sharon's (which is what happened in real life) to seek revenge after Charles Manson encounters Sharon’s friends earlier in the film, creating an eerie effect. I am wondering are they now going to kill them also? Then the most surprising thing happens, Cliff, his pit bull and Rick decide to fight back against these scummy creeps leaving them to be battered and massacred. These scenes were great, gory? Yes, but this is a Tarantino film so it’s to be expected! But these fight scenes are full of excitement, suspense and surprise as we see the violence unfold, and finishes off perfectly with DiCaprio using a flamethrower on the final Manson cult member - expertly finishing off the fight with the weapon. My head was reeling by this time, I kept thinking "Are they really doing this?" Then came the ending, Rick is now safe, Cliff injured but alive. And now Rick gets to meet his next door neighbor Sharon and her friends. I am still in shock but then for the first time we see the title on screen "Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood" and then I finally get it, this is a Hollywood story not real life, this is what we wish would have happened. The film then ends with Rick doing an advert for cigarettes, helping to really make us feel immersed, even after the credits have rolled! I absolutely loved it!
The film wasn’t all perfect though, although many of the problems come from me personally instead of the film. My main issue was that I had no idea as to the relevance of quite a lot of the scenes (because I didn’t know about the Manson cult and Sharon Tate story) which meant that I was left questioning as to the purpose of many of the scenes throughout the film, such as the ranch scenes when actually they held a huge importance to the film. What I would recommend is to read up on the story, familiarise yourself with it first otherwise you definitely won’t get the full experience. The only other issue that I had with the film was that it felt a little slow after ~90 minutes, the film started off really intense and exciting and then slowly dropped off slightly, although it did stay interesting and exciting but just not to the same intensity as at the beginning. Other than that though, I thought it was a very very impressive film.
Overall, I would give this film a 9.5. I thought it was amazing, seeing DiCaprio, Robbie and Pitt at their finest in this film feels amazing to witness - and arguably one of Tarantino’s best films to date too! As well as this though, the storyline feels really immersive and exciting, and the characters do too - which leaves us really feeling excited by the events and characters in the film, I loved it! There were so many clever elements too, such as when Rick explained the purpose of the book to another actor on set, and began to break down when he realised it was a metaphor of his life, and seeing behind the scenes of old western films being made - it was a great and really authentic experience witnessing this film and hopefully they will be rewarded in the box office. Would I recommend watching this? Definitely, this is for sure one of the films to see this summer and definitely should not be missed
Thank you so much for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review. I really appreciate it, thank you again and have a lovely day. If you would like to check out my Official Facebook page where you can see sneak previous then please consider checking out the link below! :)
Dedicated to Katie x
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