Photo: Press Association 2014

“If you’re gonna compare a Hanzo sword, you compare it to every other sword ever made that wasn’t made by Hattori Hanzo.”

Chris Luckett

When Quentin Tarantino wrote the above line for Kill Bill (or what would eventually be bisected into Kill Bill, Vol. 2), it very eloquently summed up the problem with discussing Tarantino and his movies.

At that point in time, Tarantino had done what no writer-director had managed, be they Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, or Orson Welles: he’d made five perfect films in a row. Moreover, he’d only made five movies by that point, and they were all 5-star films.

Even today, after his streak has slipped and his career lacks the lustrous sheen it still had a decade ago, he’s one of the toughest directors to bring up in comparison to other directors (because he so boldly does his own thing every time, even when flopping), let along when discussing which Tarantino work is best.

When it comes to his worst, though, there’s a pretty unanimous consensus… Continue reading →