We can really explore ourselves only as bad guys

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 1999)

Well, it rocks, I guess. It jumps. It moves. It's flashy and clever. The acting is excellent. The direction is interesting... I could write a book, but what I kept thinking was how much the audience worships not just the violence, but the power. How much they love the fascist criminal, the mob boss who must be obeyed and shown loyalty to.
Uma Thurman is just decadently sexy. John Travolta is amazingly lovable as a "low-rent" hood and Bruce Willis is believable as a prize fighter who turns the tables and wins the fight instead of throwing it (and, in an up-to-date spin, bets on himself-seems right! How come they never did that before: they probably did, I just missed it.). Samuel Jackson is interesting as the Bible-quoting black hit man.
Naturally they make us root for the bad guys; indeed the bad guys are almost always the heroes in the modern Hollywood. We can really explore ourselves only as bad guys. The pro-mo's for cigarettes, heroin, cocaine, booze and decadence are getting a little thin, however. A Hollywood movie, a commercial flick, is always a cliché. The art part comes from doing spins on the cliché, in putting a new twist on the old bull****, on the old standards. Ironically interesting was the sensuous indulgence of dinner for Travolta and Thurman. He's shot heroin, she's done a few lines, they smoke some pot, they smoke some cigarettes, but they really get off on milk shakes and vanilla cokes, steaks and hamburgers. Poor Hollywood. They've done it all and now must find real indulgence in fat, salt, sugar and meat, which for the stars really is an indulgence. If your life span is only sixteen to about thirty-five, then the forbidden things really are fat, salt, meat and anything else that puts on the weight. Cocaine and cigarettes can't hurt you because by the time the ill effects kick in, your career is over anyway.
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)