Quentin Tarantino’s Ultimate Statement on Movie Violence

This article contains major spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

For his ninth and supposedly penultimate film, Quentin Tarantino gave up violence. In a way. To a point. The ever-polarizing writer-director is famed for his stylish and shocking scenes of brutality, which he’s used for cartoonish thrills (Kill Bill’s 89-person sword fight), queasy comedy (Pulp Fiction’s accidental face-shooting), and morally weighted horror (Django Unchained’s showcase of slaveholders’ cruelty). But across most of its very charming and very languid run time, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood almost entirely forgoes gruesome outbursts in favor of chitchat, driving, and back-lot shenanigans. Two hours into the saga, some fan, sitting in some theater out there, is surely ready to accuse Tarantino of going soft this time.

Then comes the end of the movie, and the end of the movie’s relative peacefulness. Three Charles Manson followers—who, in reality, went on to kill five people, including the actress Sharon Tate—break in to the home of the washed-up actor Rick Dalton (played byLeonardo DiCaprio). These would-be slaughterers end up being slaughtered by Dalton and his stuntman,