Quentin Tarantino's second strike.

Rating: 8/10 (3 April 2004)

Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" is the quintessential example of great movie making, assorted using various constructive techniques that elevate the film to the highest possible level, stretching the boundaries and pushing upwards. Like all great directors, Q.T. lets the film and its subsidiaries stand on their own. A lesser director might employ cheap gimmicks and plot devices to move the story onwards at a brisk pace, but "Pulp Fiction" is a dark action, comedy, and/or drama that clocks in at two hours and thirty-four minutes. And not a single minute is wasted on material we think could have been shortened or cut. It's one of those rare motion pictures that leaves you wanting more, which only welcomes another immediate viewing to let everything sink in a second, third, or even fourth time.
A lesser director than Tarantino might also force his characters into saying things they would not normally say, or into actions they would not normally act out in real life. Instead, Tarantino does something brilliant and seldom executed: He actually lets his characters evolve on-screen, and actually engage in every day conversations. Most critics interpret this as Quentin stopping to insert unnecessary (albeit entertaining) dialogue segments. They're wrong. The dialogue is strong, but it's there for a purpose. The difference is that dialogue in a movie such as "The Presidio" isn't real at all. The characters enter, move the plot forwards through speaking or acting, then proceed to repeat this in following instances, as if they're following the back of a mouth wash bottle ("rinse, spit, repeat"). Quentin does something else, by eavesdropping on his characters when their dialogue does mean something. No doubt Jules and Vincent have much to say about many things, but most of the time it is not relevant to the story. One must keep in mind that we actually hear little about Jules and Vincent, and even less talk between them. But when we do hear these things, it's strikingly true and purposeful. And this is what so many people miss when viewing "Pulp Fiction" -- the witty dialogue has become universally regarded as the strongest ever written, and while that may very well be correct, the idea that it is pointless is absurd. Quentin is subtle in the way he introduces his speeches; when Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta) spend some two or three minutes discussing how the French translate the term "Quarter Pounder with Cheese" due to the metric system, it is amazingly deliberate: Quentin later uses this same reference for Jules before he and Vincent assassinate a group of young crooks who have stolen a briefcase from Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), one of the town's major kingpins.

There are essentially three stories in "Pulp Fiction," intertwined between one another. It opens with Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and her boyfriend (Tim Roth) hatching a plan to rob a restaurant. By their reasoning, no one ever bothers with restaurants, just banks, so why not take advantage of them "with their pants down"? The stick-up proceeds, which is when the famous titles roar forward and we find ourselves following Jules and Vincent, who work for Marsellus, who has paid championship boxer Butch (Bruce Willis) to fall in his upcoming match. But Butch has a better plan: Bet loads of money on himself, beat the other guy to a bloody pulp, and run away with his money. He almost gets away with it when he accidentally crosses paths with Marsellus once more, resulting in a rape scene to rival that in "Deliverance."
Back to the dialogue. It is the driving force of the film, complementing the plot and allowing its characters to grow on us in ways we never imagined they would. It's the way in which the dialogue is deliberated that varies from most other examples of deliberation. For example, is it coincidence that we just so happen to overhear Jules and Vincent discussing the Big Mac and Quarter Pounder with Cheese? No. But our instincts tell us that it seems very real, as if Tarantino went around filming real people, then edited together scenes where the dialogue could bear some sort of importance to the plot. There are different levels of dialogue -- plot-driven, and realistic -- but all dialogue is in service of its plot, just as all of what we say to our friends or family has a deeper meaning and will no doubt relate to the matter at hand. All dialogue relates to a larger scheme, and so does the dialogue in "Pulp Fiction." It's just more casual and subtle than most movies. It's not pointless, but it's not deliberate, which is a fine line to try and balance on. Quentin does so successfully, crossing the finish line with enthusiasm, which is no doubt part of what elevates "Pulp Fiction" above so many other motion pictures of its genre.
5/5.