The 1990 movie so good Quentin Tarantino called it a masterpiece twice: “Just too powerful”
How do you make it abundantly clear that a movie you love is no mere masterpiece? If you’re Quentin Tarantino, by calling it a masterpiece twice in the space of a single sentence.
If doubling down doesn’t put the point across, then nothing will. On the other hand, the movie he designated as being worthy of the most prestigious superlative of them all isn’t what most people would consider a masterpiece, although it was, is, and will always remain a riotous good time.
When you think of motion picture masterpieces, the mind inevitably wanders to the usual suspects: The Godfather, Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shawshank Redemption, Jaws, and every other legendary title that’s always hovering around any self-respecting ‘greatest of all time’ list.
What won’t usually find its way into your subconscious is a film starring Hulk Hogan. And yet, despite repeatedly showcasing his total lack of acting skills in every other feature-length outing of his career, Tarantino maintains that the moustachioed professional wrestler and racist has a masterpiece to his name.
“I actually think Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a fucking masterpiece,” the two-time Academy Award winner declared, before immediately reiterating his point. “Absolute masterpiece. The greatest Mad Magazine ever turned into a film.” A completely different animal from its horror-leaning predecessor, Tarantino theorised that the sequel’s batshit insanity was an act of revenge.
“It’s always been clear that Joe Dante has a little contempt for the first movie,” the filmmaker mused. “It’s just not his kind of movie. He wrestled it to the ground and made it his movie, but I don’t know if Joe Dante would see Gremlins if he didn’t direct it. He’s just too much of a wisenheimer to not hate himself for shooting all the Mogwai stuff at the beginning.”
He’s got a point, since Dante has never been shy in admitting that the studio exerted more influence over the 1984 cult favourite than he was used to or would like, but when it made over $200 million at the box office, he was rewarded with increased levels of creative control on the follow-up, an opportunity that he seized with both hands to turn the premise upside down and use it for satirical, anarchic comedy.
The original Gremlins remains the most commercially successful film that Dante has ever made, which Tarantino is confident “seriously bums him out,” since it was the one he had to compromise on the most heavily. And yet, injecting those frustrations into The New Batch is exactly why the Pulp Fiction director rates it so highly.
All movies should be born from love in one way or another, but when they’re born from grudges and spite instead, they can be just as great. Or, as Tarantino explained, “The idea to have complete revenge on your one fluke hit was just too powerful.” It may not be everyone’s idea of a masterpiece, but he thinks it is, so much so that he’ll say it twice.
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