ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Review

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the director's ninth film, isn't being marketed as a hero movie, nor is it some wily narrative plank leading unsuspecting audiences toward the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In any case, in its thin conception, shaggy structure and sloppy execution – and in its merriment in coasting on an apparent aura of cool prodigy pow-bang vitality – the film is as much a comic-book movie as they come.

Consider the on-screen proof. The film centers around two 1969 Hollywood sorts, past-his-prime TV actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his drinking pal/stunt twofold/gofer Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). All through the splendid, primary-shaded film, the two men display near-superhuman feats of solidarity and bravery, with Cliff notwithstanding going head to head with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) and coming out on top. Bluff's unassuming abode, meanwhile, is covered with comics. There's a fierce climax that is deliberately unbelievable. And Quentin Tarantino even soundtracks the closing credits to the old Batman TV show topic. The film doesn't trouble or care to define which individual from its dynamic couple is Bruce Wayne and which is Dick Grayson (both Rick and Cliff flutter between the two jobs), however from every other perspective, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood is Tarantino's The Dark Knight.

With its superstar pairing of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in the lead jobs, "Once Upon a Time" takes the audience on a pop-culture-soaked ride through 1969 Los Angeles. Movie marquees are ever-present in the background, bannering the titles of the day, and movie blurbs adorn almost every unmistakable wall. Tarantino's movie-nerd proclivities in this way transform the set structure into a main character.

One of the movie's best scenes comes when Cliff drives Pussycat home to the neglected Spahn Movie Ranch and has an uneasy meeting with her adoptive family individuals, including wary earth mother Gypsy (Lena Dunham) and a straightforwardly antagonistic Squeaky Fromme (Dakota Fanning). Bluff realizes the place well from the days of Rick's TV show Bounty Law, and his insistence on seeing the proprietor, George Spahn (Bruce Dern), leaves him with a greater number of inquiries than answers.

Tarantino is so enamored with his present for writing dialog as to release scenes on, offering a breathtaking showcase for his leads, here flanked by a gaudy assortment of cameos. DiCaprio's rage-filled articulations of self-question alone ought to be mandatory viewing in acting classes.

Critically speaking, "Once Upon a Time" (charged as Tarantino's ninth movie, although that math is somewhat fluffy) deals from a stacked deck, delivering an affection letter to individual cinephiles, augmented by the director's customarily oddball twists and darken references. On the latter score, being aware in 1969 isn't mandatory, however having some familiarity with cultural artifacts of the time, similar to Dean Martin's Matt Helm movies, clearly helps in completely appreciating the gags.

Tarantino's yield is in the course of the last quarter-century has made his movies feel like an occasion. At the same time, the breathtaking, winding roads of the Hollywood Hills that the characters navigate give a reasonably decent metaphor to the film itself.

Those courses will, in general, be picturesque, and they'll get you where you're moving eventually. They're simply not always the most effective course from here to there. The movie merits 6+.