Tame ending, and a less gratuitous than Tarantino's other films

Rating: 7/10 (4 September 2004)

Some would call this a tamer/toned down version of Pulp Fiction... I don't know. I guess it is, but the film is also more devoid of Tarantino's style than any of his other work. The non-linear time-line would be the prime example of this; it's only used in a handful of scenes, rather than the one thing that keeps the film going, as is the case with one or two of his other films(Reservoir Dogs, arguably Pulp Fiction). The film has much less violence, sex and drugs than any of his other films as well, which, together with the non-linear time-line, is Tarantino's trademark. However, in some ways, it lifted the film above expectations of the standard Tarantino production; instead of sitting there, waiting for some shocking violence, I actually payed attention to the story, which is more than what I can say for Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction(Kill Bill managed to juggle both things, Tarantino's style and a good, interesting plot perfectly, which is partly why I like it more). The problem with the plot, however, is that it's so damn confusing... if you don't pay perfect attention every single second of the way, you'll miss something. Normally, this would rate high with me, as I like films where it pays off to pay attention... only, this one doesn't. It doesn't pay off to pay attention, because the one reason there is to watch the movie, is to enjoy Tarantino's unique style, which, as I mentioned before, is not as present here as it is in his other movies. The ending is a anti-climax, and a powerful one, since it gives you exactly the ending you expect from the very start of the film, and you realize that you've just spent two and a half hours, watching something that ended exactly the way you knew it would end. Pulp Fiction ended unexpectedly, both in time and situation. Kill Bill had a great twist, at the end of each part/volume. Even Reservoir Dogs had a better ending than this. The plot is a pretty good, but a little too predictable, and it has almost as bad a pace as Pulp Fiction; the thing that kept me watching was my enjoyment of Tarantino's style and the fact that I wasn't as confused by it as I was by Pulp Fiction. The predictability might have something to do with me having seen so many other Tarantino's films, but it still should have surprised me more; all of his other films surprised me, some more than others, but all surprised me at some point or another. The characters are well-written, like with most of Tarantino's other work. The dialog is also about as good as Tarantino's other films. The soundtrack is also pretty good, but it's inferior to his other films, in my opinion. The actors are all well-cast. Hmmm... what else... I don't know, all in all, it's just a typical Tarantino film, with the twist that it's in several ways different from, uh, the typical Tarantino film. That's pretty much it. If you're into Tarantino's style, you'll enjoy it, but you have to love his films and style to really love it. I recommend it to fans of Tarantino, who are up for a slightly different film from what he usually does. 7/10