Not exactly what I was expecting from tarantino

Rating: 7/10 (24 November 2019)

It is hard for me to review this title as I am not a professional movie critic. However as a filmmaker myself I will try to touch on what I can from a filmmakers POV. Obviously I am nowhere in the same class, atmosphere or zone as Tarantino, who I find to be one of the top film artists of the last 25 years.
Once Upon a Time... is not a typical Tarantino film. Meaning it is not as blunt, graphic or violet as his previous work. Now this doesn't make it a bad experience but it definitely left me feeling a bit empty at first. Luckily I had a guild screener as was able to give it a second viewing which helped me absorb more of what Quentin was trying to put in front of me than my 1st viewing.
I will say the trailers originally set my expectations very high, especially after some of the great films he brought us recently such as Hateful 8 (My personal fave of his body of work) and Django Unchained. So naturally I was expecting something in the vein of these two films and man it couldn't be further than those pictures.
OUATIH is set during what some will say was the end of the golden age of Hollywood. Now having been born in 1971 I was not privy enough to this culture but have done my historical research and this film is definitely QT's love letter to that time in history.
Now, I am not going to get into the whole break down of the story. I feel other imdb reviewers have touched on that enough so there is no point in me regurgitating what has already been covered.
OUATIH, while a love letter, is a fictional story with a mix of real life characters and fictional characters, and takes place during a historic time in history. The mix of real life characters and the events of some of those real life characters are thrown into a mixer and swirled around into a cocktail that puts a fresh spin on the age old true story.
What QUATIH successfully accomplishes is bringing to the audience relatable and likeable fictional characters who lead the main part of the story. Leo and Brad have some of the most amazing on screen chemistry and turn really fantastic performances. Although I was getting a bit impatient with The slow burn of Leo's story as Rick Dalton and felt it was dragging on, whereas Brad's character, Rick's stunt double Cliff Booth, felt like you could tell a whole other story and you would watch it because Pitt makes his character so relatable and genuine.
Here is where my first problems lied within the film, as I noted my expectations where sky high for two reasons. 1. great trailers, and number 2. a new Tarantino film. I set my self up and never thought Tarantino would give us the film he did and it left me feeling bored the first time around... well at least until the last 15 minutes where the film goes full Tarantino. It was this ending that made me sit back and say "you know, I might be missing something here, let me watch it again."
So on the second viewing I absorbed more and could appreciate the overall package but still felt it didn't live up to its full potential. However, I will still say Brad Pitt did the most outstanding job with his character and Leo was able to play the actor within an actor within another character very well and he did give a great performance further proving he is one of the top 10 greatest talents of his generation.
In the end I felt that while this is not exactly my cup of tea in QT films, it holds a place in his heart and I could see that through the presentation. Sadly, for me I wasn't able to fully connect on the level I was hoping too but that doesn't mean others will not.
I will say my biggest disappointment was the under utilization of Margot Robbie, who plays a great doppleganger for Sharon Tate, just a shame though as the Tate Storyline is wasted and could easily have been left on the cutting room floor and this is from the perspective of another filmmaker. I do understand I am not QT and this is not my film, but just my opinion on the film.
My advice is if you at first don't connect with OUATIH, give it another watch. Just for the nostalgia of the hollywood history it is worth a second viewing alone.
In the end I couldn't give it an 8, I would say it is more a solid 7.4 and with the IMDB scale I had to round it down to a 7. But, like I said, this is my perspective.
on the technical and soundtrack side this film is an 10 out of 10, but the overall package just doesn't deliver that full 8 or even the 10 I was expecting.

P.S. Bruce lee's kid needed to shut up. The scenes with Mike Moh resembled every Bruce interview of documentary with him on film I have seen so while the representation wasn't 100% it was damn close.