Even Quentin Tarantino himself has said that the strongest assets in his movies are their characters. When he’s casting, he doesn’t specifically seek out movie stars; the character takes precedence and Q.T. simply searches for the perfect person to bring that character to life (although that person does usually turn out to be a movie star).
Since a lot of Tarantino’s movies are pastiches of earlier movies – a common criticism levied at his work – his characters tend to be pastiches of familiar roles from cinema history. But there’s always a personal spin on genre archetypes.
Death Proof (7.0) – Stuntman Mike
When Tarantino teamed up with Robert Rodriguez for double feature Grindhouse, he was required to helm an old-school B-movie, and he came up with the ideal premise for a grisly slasher: a misogynistic stuntman uses his “death-proof” stunt car to hunt down young women and kill them in horrific head-on collisions.
Kurt Russell took on the role of Stuntman Mike and was able to shed his usual charms and play the part effectively as a sleazy, murderous incarnation of pure vehicular evil.
Jackie Brown (7.5) – Jackie Brown
The great thing about Jackie Brown is that the title character is constantly underestimated by the people around her. Ordell Robbie thinks she’s a naive air stewardess who will follow his orders without question. The cops think she’s in over her head and will cooperate with their investigation.
Max Cherry is the only one who can see that she’s much smarter than she seems, and that leads to one of the most emotionally engaging romances in Tarantino’s filmography. Pam Grier is as brilliant as always in the movie, which gave her a much-needed Hollywood comeback after leading the blaxploitation trend in the ‘70s.
Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (7.7) – Cliff Booth
Brad Pitt won his first Academy Award for playing Rick Dalton’s stunt double Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood last year. There are plenty of memorable characters in the movie, but Cliff is head and shoulders above the rest.
Whether he’s beating up hippies or tripping on acid or hanging out with his dog or simply cruising around the streets of ‘60s-era L.A., Cliff dominates the screen and oozes charisma.
The Hateful Eight (7.8) – Daisy Domergue
When The Hateful Eight was released, it was criticized – perhaps justly – for its attitude towards women. Out of the eight lead characters, only one of them is a woman, and she’s beaten and bloodied every time she opens her mouth. But taken on her own as a character, Daisy Domergue is pretty iconic.
Conceived as a “Susan Atkins of the Wild West,” she’s a mass murderer who has been chained to a bounty hunter who can’t wait to see her hang. Jennifer Jason Leigh more than earned her Oscar nomination by capturing Daisy’s pure evil.
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (8.0) – Bill
After only getting a few glimpses of the titular villain in Kill Bill: Volume 1, David Carradine was really given a chance to shine in the role in Volume 2, as fans saw flashbacks to his relationship with the Bride while she came closer and closer to fulfilling the violent promise of the title.
Carradine has a ton of monologues in Kill Bill’s second volume, like his explanation of what sets Superman apart from his peers, and he nails every single one.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (8.1) – The Bride
The basic concept for Kill Bill began with the character. On the set of Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino mentioned the idea for the opening scene to Uma Thurman, who suggested pulling back to reveal that she’s wearing a bridal gown – hence, the Bride was born.
The first part of Kill Bill is a lot more action-packed than the second part, and the action sequences are where the Bride really shines. Thurman has the physicality to pull off every fight scene, and she slipped effortlessly into the unique tone Tarantino was going for.
Inglourious Basterds (8.3) – Col. Hans Landa
Christoph Waltz brought one of cinema’s all-time greatest villains to life with his chilling Oscar-winning portrayal of Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. Whenever Landa enters a scene, the atmosphere becomes tense.
With just a cold glance or a stern frown, Landa could terrify someone he was having a seemingly polite conversation with – and, by extension, terrify the audience.
Reservoir Dogs (8.3) – Mr. Blonde
Many psychologists have used Reservoir Dogs to explain the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. Mr. White is a psychopath, who will do inhumane things to get the job done, while Mr. Blonde is a sociopath, who simply enjoys killing and torturing people.
In a Quentin Tarantino movie, the latter is undeniably more fun. Michael Madsen has genuine charisma in the role, which juxtaposes nicely with the character’s disturbing nature.
Django Unchained (8.4) – Django Freeman
Arguably, Tarantino’s first western, Django Unchained, has his highest quotient of memorable characters, including the dentist-turned-bounty hunter Dr. Schultz, Django’s strong-willed estranged wife Broomhilda, and the truly sinister plantation owner Calvin Candie. But the movie’s greatest character is its eponymous hero.
At the beginning of the movie, he’s a slave in a chain gang, and by the end of it, he’s the fastest gun in the South. Jamie Foxx played the character’s transformation beautifully, while Tarantino’s framing made him one of the genre’s most triumphant heroes.
Pulp Fiction (8.9) – Mia Wallace
There are a ton of fantastic characters in Pulp Fiction, all of them modern twists on familiar genre archetypes, from Samuel L. Jackson’s monologue-spouting hitman Jules Winnfield to Bruce Willis’ mafioso-defying boxer Butch Coolidge. But arguably the most interesting character in the movie is Mia Wallace, a fun play on the mob boss’ wife trope.
She uses the fact that her husband is a fearsome crime lord to live life on the edge, stealing dance trophies and snorting mountains of coke without a care in the world. Uma Thurman delivers Mia’s uniquely articulate dialogue spectacularly.
