A Reel Opinion: Ranking the Films of Quentin Tarantino

Believe it or not, Quentin Tarantino has turned 60 years old. The former "wiz-kid" of Hollywood that exploded onto the scene in the early 1990's has moved into the senior class. His moving into his sixth decade has sparked the discussion of his best films. Reel Speak did this ranking in 2019, and after four years...it's time for a revisit. 

10. INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (2009)

A platoon of Nazi hunters crosses paths with a revenge-seeking theatre owner. Quentin Tarantino’s knowledge of cinema is unmatched, and his films reflect that. This is the best example of him letting his film homages get in the way of the story. BASTERDS begins as a classic men-on-a-mission WWII flick in the spirit of FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE or KELLY’S HEROES, but then slips into a boring foreign language film. The antagonist of the story, played by Christoph Waltz, is built as a cool and calculating character but goes psycho near the end for no reason, and the troop of Nazi-hunting soldiers, whom the film is named after, vanish from the story for an intolerable amount of time; it’s more like the INFREQUENT BASTERDS. 

9. DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)

An escaped slave looks to free his true love. The prospect of Tarantino doing a Western was exciting for us all; it was the genre loaded with the classic sensibilities that he thrives on. Toss on a liberated slave, and the table was set for something important. Instead, we got a feature-length cartoon with cartoon characters doing cartoony things. Waltz returns to play the exact same character he played in BASTERDS, and the material does not get treated as seriously as it deserved. The deal-breaker comes towards the end, when Tarantino makes the head-scratching decision to put a rap song in the soundtrack. This was QT’s first film without his long-time editor Sally Menke, and it really shows. 

8. DEATH PROOF (2007)

A group of women are stalked by a sadistic stuntman. This exploitation/horror flick was made as part of a double feature in the GRINDHOUSE film with Robert Rodriguez. It’s a dialogue-heavy movie where not much happens for what seems like an eternity, but it does give us one of Tarantino’s best characters in Stuntman Mike, played by the great Kurt Russell. The endless amount of talk-talk-talk make it a (ahem) grind to get through, but it does showcase Tarantino’s talent for writing dialogue; only he can make ordinary conversations about nothing seem interesting. 

7. THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015)

Eight strangers in the Old West seeking refuge from a blizzard are stuck in an inn. What’s great about the EIGHT is that it was filmed in the glorious 70mm format. What’s not so great is that 90% of the film is set indoors, which seems to be a waste of the detail-capturing format. But EIGHT rolls out as a classic closed-quarters, paranoid thriller where not one cowboy (or cowgirl) trusts each other. The dialogue is excellent and the finale a glorious bloodbath that only QT can deliver. 

6. RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)

Diamond thieves are assembled to pull a heist and things go wrong. This was his smash debut and an excellent showcase of Tarantino’s love of non-traditional storytelling. The movie unfolds in a non-linear fashion; a skill that he would hone throughout his career, and the many twists and turns keeps it interesting and fun. 

5. PULP FICTION (1995)

This Blogger considers PULP FICTION to be the most overrated film of all time (read more on that HERE), but its merits are many. The cast is excellent, the dialogue sharp and witty, and once again the non-traditional, non-linear unfolding of the story is handled with precision. It often feels like three different movies rolled into one with loose connecting threads, but that was the whole idea. It also has one of QT’s best directed and acted scenes; a drug overdose scene with John Travolta and Eric Stoltz that is as funny as it is horrifying. 

4. KILL BILL VOL. 1 (2003)

A former assassin sets out on a bloody rampage of revenge against her old boss and his underlings. Tarantino took two of his favorite genres; the Old West and samurai/kung-fu films, and put together an opus of vengeance. Once again told non-traditionally, it had plenty of clever reveals, strong character work, and fantastic fight scenes. Uma Thurman as The Bride gives her all, and the final fight is a splatterfest which ends in a twist leading to the second chapter which had the biggest surprise of all…

3. JACKIE BROWN (1997)

An airline steward gets caught smuggling dope and cash and schemes her way out of trouble. Sweet and intricate, it’s one-half heist film and one-half hang-out movie, and works very well thanks to Tarantino’s well-crafted dialogue and characters. He sprinkles in a love story with lead actress Pam Grier and supporting actor Robert Forster and finds time to explore people finding love after 40. Much like its characters, JACKIE BROWN gets better with age. 

2. KILL BILL VOL. 2 (2004)

The biggest surprise of QT’s finale to his revenge opus was the shift in tone; where VOL. 1 was a splatterfest of blood and guts, VOL. 2 slowed things down and dug into its characters. Backstories are fleshed out not only for The Bride but for the rest of the underlings and for Bill himself. Sub-plots such as a brother in self-exile are excellent homages to the Old West that don’t get in the way of the story, and the usage of classic Western themes in the soundtrack are perfectly placed. But the real surprise comes late in the film, when The Bride finds out that she has a daughter. The reunion makes for a gasp and a few tears…and for the first time ever Quentin Tarantino makes us really care about his characters. 

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)

An aging action star and his stunt-double wrestle with the future in this loosely-based true story. This is Tarantino’s fairy tale and love letter to cinema, and a movie that he had been working towards his entire career. The 1960’s are brought to life in a way that we just want to wrap ourselves up in it, and his characters, which are usually very cold and distant in his films, are guys and girls that we would love to hang out with. Acting from the ensemble cast, especially Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie is tremendous. And as a treat, its status as a Hollywood fairy tale allows QT to offer a happy ending for the late great Sharon Tate. The bloody conclusion offers an incredibly satisfying end that has us rising out of our seats, and that's what a wiz-kid does best. 

The Films of Quentin Tarantino

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
2. KILL BILL VOL. 2 
3. JACKIE BROWN
4. KILL BILL VOL. 1 
5. PULP FICTION
6. RESERVOIR DOGS
7. THE HATEFUL 8
8. DEATH PROOF
9. DJANGO UNCHAINED
10. INGLORIOUS BASTERDS