Tarantino’s criticisms often circulate as lists of films he hates. To understand them, it is necessary to separate a negative assessment after watching, a partial objection, and the decision not to watch a work: these are different situations and lead to different conclusions.
Natural Born Killers and a personal relationship with the script
In his 2019 conversation for BAFTA, Tarantino expressed his dislike for the film Natural Born Killers and distinguished that from his appreciation of his own screenplay. The difference is central: here he was not commenting on someone else’s work with the usual distance of a viewer, but on the transformation of material he had written.
The film released in 1994 was directed by Oliver Stone. Its visual style, with changes of format, image saturation and an insistent satire of the media spectacle, belongs to that production. The fact that Tarantino is the author of the original story does not make the result a film directed by him, nor does it mean that they necessarily share its decisions.
The disagreement helps explain why it appears so often in these round-ups. However, there is no need to add a story of personal enmity to explain the criticism. Nor does it allow any scene disliked by a viewer to be identified as a specific change by Stone without comparing the relevant versions of the text.
The Last Crusade: an unusual preference
In August 2022, during his appearance on ReelBlend, Tarantino said he preferred Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. CinemaBlend published the comment on 12 August. His objection was aimed at the boredom he felt with the third instalment and at the way the character played by Sean Connery functioned.
It is an assessment of the 1989 film and its father-and-son dynamic. It does not prove that he rejects all sequels or considers Spielberg’s entire career a failure. The same filmmaker can admire one of the director’s adventures and disagree with a follow-up that other viewers prefer.
The Last Crusade shifts part of the interest from exploration towards the family bond. For anyone who enjoys that relationship, the interruptions and arguments may be one of its greatest attractions. For Tarantino, according to that comment, that mechanism did not produce the same result. The disagreement is critical and personal; it does not alter the film’s content or turn the majority taste into an obligation.
In addition, comparing two instalments is not the same as offering an exhaustive ranking. A favourable remark about The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull against The Last Crusade leaves other questions open: which scenes he values, how much he likes it in absolute terms, or how he would place all the films in the series at another time.
Refusing to watch Dune or Toy Story 4 is not the same as reviewing them
In October 2024, his conversation with Bret Easton Ellis about the new adaptations of Dune was circulated. Tarantino explained that he had not seen them because he already knew a version of that story and did not feel the need to return to it. The same discussion included Ripley and Shōgun. It is a statement about his choices as a viewer, not an analysis of scenes from works he said he had not seen.
Something similar happens with Toy Story 4. In his 2024 conversation with Bill Maher, he defended the ending of the earlier trilogy and said he did not want to continue. Presenting that refusal as a detailed critique of the fourth film would add a judgement that his words do not contain. Preferring to keep an ending does not prove that a sequel lacks merit.
General opinions about remakes, franchises or digital effects should also not automatically be turned into verdicts against every title in those categories. A comment about an industry trend can coexist with exceptions. To include a film in a selection of works he rejects, there needs to be a statement referring to it, not just an association with the kind of cinema he criticises.
The documented examples show different degrees of rejection: Natural Born Killers implies a break with the adaptation of his writing; The Last Crusade receives a viewing-based critique; Dune and Toy Story 4 appear as experiences he chose not to seek out. Keeping those differences in mind prevents a striking list from attributing to him opinions he never actually expressed.
See the selection of films recommended by Tarantino.