A genuine work of genius that changed the face of film-making

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2008)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Lovers Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and Pumpkin (Tim Roth) exchange some dialogue in an American diner before taking their guns out and holding the place up, the latest in a long line of hold ups. Meanwhile, contract killers Vince (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L Jackson) also share some clever observations on life, travelling in their car before taking care of two lowlives who have crossed paths with their boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) who at the same time is in his club, persuading down on his luck boxer Butch (Bruce Willis) to throw a fight for him. However, Butch suicidally has other ideas on his mind. In the space of a day, these characters will be drawn together and their fates decided by each other in some way none of them saw coming.
In 1991, the world first experienced the genius of Tarantino with his excellent debut feature Reservoir Dogs. But the clever concept and genius writing were over-shadowed by controversy, with the inclusion of a certain scene involving an ear. It says a lot that by the time Pulp Fiction came out, RD was still banned on video. Although it's not zoomed in on quite as much, there's a similarly unpleasant bit in here involving a hillbilly corrupt police officer with a twisted anal perversion, which shows the sickness in the director's mind he is unable to let go of. But, as shocking as these scenes are in each respective film, it's a wonder if all the hoohah they caused was worth it for Tarantino, as his skill as a screen writer and story teller was surely enough to get him by without these nasty inclusions. But they add to the film like everything else and the sickness is as uniquely Tarantino as, well, everything else.
This is simply a film by which any others can be compared. It revolutionized film-making in a way no one saw coming, with the delivery of the story and the effortlessly cool dialogue, which had many pretenders to the throne copying it's style long afterward. But the film is simply one in a million, told in a way only Tarantino could have done and as outrageous as only he could be.
It also succeeds in having a great cast playing brilliant characters. Travolta, an actor who had been languishing in the wilderness for years (a trait Tarantino would employ for many other long forgotten stars in years to come) and Jackson, who late in his life and career went on to become quite the mega-star for his inclusion in the film, are unforgettable as the ultra savvy, cool, assured hit men forced to lose their trendy suits and look like average surfer dudes by the end of the film. Also, Roth, a British actor whose career was pretty much launched by this, got his shot at the big time here and gave it his all along with character actress Plummer as his trigger happy lover. Willis and Rhames also make memorable roles out of their characters, along with supporting turns from the likes of Uma Thurman as Wallace's coked up failed actress wife and Harvey Keitel as the conspicuous (but bad mannered) 'cleaner' sent to sort out an unfortunate mess Travolta and Jackson get themselves into.
A mind blowingly clever and inventive tale, cool, stylish, outrageous and carried along by a savvy soundtrack, including such 70s hits as Let's Stay Together and Son of a Preacher Man, this is simply an unforgettable masterpiece that has stood the test of time. Push comes to shove, I probably preferred Reservoir Dogs but this certainly ain't lagging too far behind it. *****