Every Quentin Tarantino Film Ranked, According to Metacritic
For the past several years, the dialogue surrounding filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s career has been about his planned exit from it. He wants to end on a strong note and leave the audience wanting more. And as such, Tarantino has insisted, numerous times, that his 10th directed film will be his last.
Back when he first said this a little over a decade ago, it didn’t mean much. He was only on his seventh film (he considers Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2 to be a single film), and he usually takes five or more years between projects. But now here we are, nine films deep into the man’s career, and we have one film left before he reaches his self-imposed limit.
In early 2024, Variety reported that Tarantino’s 10th film would be The Movie Critic, based partly on the career of famed critic Pauline Kael. In April 2024, the film had reportedly been shelved. Whatever takes its place as Tarantino’s final word will be subject to the same sort of hype and pressure.
For this list, we included two feature films that he wrote (or co-wrote) but did not direct: True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn. We omitted one short film that he wrote and directed, but was part of a larger anthology called Four Rooms: “The Man From Hollywood.”
However you feel about Tarantino’s 10-film approach, one thing is certain: The man rarely misses. Here is every Quentin Tarantino film ranked, according to Metacritic.
1. From Dusk Till Dawn
2. True Romance
3. Jackie Brown
4. The Hateful Eight
5. Inglourious Basterds
Metacritic Score: 69
There are two main plot threads in this WWII narrative–one of a French Jewish woman taking revenge on the Nazis, and the other of American Jewish soldiers scalping Nazis.This is also the movie that brought Christoph Waltz, who plays Colonel Hans Landa to mainstream attention, and was his first collaboration with Tarantino.
6. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
7. Death Proof
Metacritic Score: 77
Originally released as one half of a Grindhouse double feature (along with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror), Death Proof contains one of the finest car chase scenes ever filmed, largely due to the efforts of Zoe Bell, a stuntwoman who plays a fictionalized version of herself.
8. Django Unchained
Metacritic Score: 81
Taratino’s “Southern” is set in the antebellum South. Escaped slave Django (Jamie Foxx) attempts to save his wife (Kerry Washington) from evil plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Samuel L. Jackson has a supporting role as Stephen, the house slave from hell.
9. Reservoir Dogs
10. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
11. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Metacritic Score: 84
Set in 1969, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is about an aging actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stuntman (Brad Pitt), and it weaves in the real story of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and the Manson Family murders. Like Inglourious Basterds, this is not about historical accuracy. It’s more about wish fulfillment–the kind of wish fulfillment you can only get in a creative medium like film.
12. Pulp Fiction
Metacritic Score: 95
A modern classic by any standard, Pulp Fiction influenced filmmakers for years to come. It led to a rediscovery of ’70s cinema. It restarted John Travolta’s career, and it gave Samuel L. Jackson his finest role. It combined violence and humor in a way that few other movies have. It has so many quotable lines, so many memorable moments in its two hours and 34 minutes, that it feels like it’s much shorter than it actually is.
Some films require years for people to fully acknowledge their brilliance. But Pulp Fiction was recognized at the peak of its notoriety, and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1994. It remains Tarantino’s finest directorial effort. Time will tell if his 10th film comes close to topping it.
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