Tarantino's Verdict: These 5 Films are a Complete Waste of Your Life
Auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino knows film top to bottom – he's won two Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and gotten three nominations for Best Director.
He has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of cinema, something he often reveals on talk shows. His films often pull aspects of the films he loves, repurposed into a new story.
A genuine cinephile, Tarantino's views on others in his industry – both positive and negative – often hit the headlines.
Over the years, he's listed a handful of films that he does not like, whether due to their story or their background. We've put together his five most shocking inclusions.
- Groundhog Day (1993)
- Natural Born Killers (1994)
- The Hunger Games ( 2012-2015)
- The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008-Present)
Groundhog Day
Tarantino lambasted a lot of the "feel-good" comedies Bill Murray has become famous for, saying in Cinema Speculation (his 2022 book regarding film theory and critique) that "interesting people aren't always likeable," but the film industry of Murray's era leaned toward likeability.
He wondered why Murray was always favored to Chevy Chase; Murray's "conversion" into a likeable character was always the focus of movies like Groundhog Day, while Chase remained the same sarcastic character throughout the film.
Tarantino's fans have taken his side on this one. A few said the point of Murray's movies is that Murray is meant to be a "hip, cool, curmudgeon" and the growth seen by the end of the movie ruins his character.
Natural Born Killers
Tarantino wrote the original script for Natural Born Killers before director Oliver Stone took over the screenplay. Stone tried to make it a commentary on the dangers of media's "if it bleeds, it leads" philosophy, while Tarantino's version wasn't meant to be that deep.
Stone kept the main story and Tarantino was given credit as a writer, but the rewrites Stone included changed the story so severely that Tarantino has disowned the film.
Despite the gratuitous violence and language innate to Tarantino's work, fans have agreed that the social commentary has made it unlike any other Tarantino film. They believe Stone tried to make a Tarantino movie without understanding what a Tarantino movie is.
The Hunger Games
More than anything, Tarantino takes exception that The Hunger Games "ripped off" the 2000 dystopian film Battle Royale. He's consistently hailed the Japanese film as his favorite film released since his directing career began in 1992.
The Hunger Games was based off of Suzanne Collins' 2008 novel, which she's repeatedly said was not inspired by Battle Royale. The plots are remarkably similar, despite Collins saying she hadn't seen Battle Royale before The Hunger Games' release.
Fans generally side with Collins on this one. Probably most of us had that same story idea as a kid – stick a bunch of teenagers on an island and force them to fight. It's not necessarily original.
The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolution
Tarantino once held 1999's The Matrix as his second favorite film (behind Battle Royale), but the following two movies ruined it for him. When ranking his favorite 20 movies, he eventually ranked it at 14. Its sequels "ruined the mythology" for him, making it so he couldn't think about the original in the same way anymore.
When Reloaded was in theaters, it was competing with his Kill Bill: Vol 1 at the box office. Tarantino said he watched the movie the day it premiered at the Chinese Theater, eventually realizing he had nothing to worry about.
Fans agreed with Tarantino, saying that the beauty of The Matrix was the unknown. Its sequels spent too much time filling in the holes, destroying the mystery of it.
The MCU
Tarantino's not the only high-profile director to bash the most profitable franchise in cinematic history. But unlike others, he used to have a very pro-superhero stance. He even used to collect comics in his youth. If he were in his twenties, he would "totally love" the superhero boom of the past decade. But now, he's not quite as excited about them.
He made sure to say he didn't hate them, he just doesn't love them. Actors who play superheroes are no longer movie stars, according to Tarantino; the star is now the character. He's also said that the concept of original films is at war with franchises, something that began with the MCU's shared universe approach.
While most fans agree that his basic ideas are valid, many argue that he's simply scorned that a genre he's never worked in is dominating the box office. While his films are beloved by fans and critics, their box office numbers don't compare to that of the MCU.