Decent hang-out nostalgia movie - with a sour taste

Rating: 6/10 (18 June 2020)

Enjoyed it far more than Tarantino's last few movies - for the most part. But the last 15 mins are Tarantino at his absolute worst, and ultimately leave a sour taste in the mouth - after what is otherwise a very enjoyable period hang-out movie.
Weirdly, until the ending, you might be hard pushed to even tell this was even a Tarantino film. It's visually and stylistically languid (in an enjoyable way) - but not as self-indulgent on dialogue as you'd expect (though maybe not as sharp either). It also seems to rely a lot more on traditional (though heavily invisible-vfx-aided) cinematography than his previous movies. In a lot of ways it feels like his his most conventional film. The cast are effective, the mood is enjoyable, and I can see what he was going for - even with the ending - though I think he made a terrible hash of it.
Tarantino is obviously a hugely gifted filmmaker. Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are stone cold classics, and all his films have flashes of genius. But his obsessions with graphic misogynistic violence and self-righteous masochistic revenge become more disturbing with each film. It demeans his output, and leave you questioning the sincerity of everything else he puts on screen these days. Although for nearly 2h 30mins here, I thought he might have finally grown up - the last 15 mins see him once again cave-in to all his worst instincts.
There's still a lot of fun to be had here, but I'd just love to see a Tarantino movie that didn't involve trying to raise giggles from teenage boys by smashing another woman's face in or dishing out boorish ultraviolence to more wrongdoers from history.
Because when he's not doing these things he's still an excellent filmmaker.
PS - The depiction of Bruce Lee in this film is a truly bizarre - especially when you'd assume QT was a big fan. Another sour taste.