A slice of LA gangster life

Rating: 9/10 (16 August 2016)

This film from Quentin Tarantino tells the intertwining stories of a couple of gangsters, their boss's wife, Mia, and a boxer who is meant to throw a fight. There is little in the way of plot; we just observe their lives for a few days. The two gangsters are Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield and they work for Marsellus Wallace; early on Vincent and Jules discuss an incident where Marsellus threw another man out of a fourth floor window for allegedly giving his wife a foot massage something that makes Vincent nervous as Marsellus has asked him to take Mia out for the night while he is out of town. The evening goes well until they get back to Mia's house and she overdoses on Vincent's heroin while he is in the bathroom. The second story follows Butch the boxer who rather than throwing a fight for Marsellus beats his opponent to death. He knows he has to get out of town but first he must return home to retrieve his watch that has been in the family for generation. This puts him in a dangerous place when he bumps into Marsellus. Finally we see events that took place earlier after Vincent accidentally shoots somebody in a car and he and Jules have to get some help from 'The Wolf'.
As I said earlier this isn't about plot; that isn't to say nothing happens though quite the opposite. There is a decent amount of action; some of it sudden and shocking as well as great characters. It is these characters that the film is really about. The cast does a fine job; most notably John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson who are on top form as Vincent and Jules; Uma Thurman is also impressive as Mia Wallace as is Ving Rhames as her husband. Bruce Willis does a fine job as Butch and Harvey Keitel puts in a memorable performance as 'The Wolf'. The non-linear way the story is told isn't confusing; I rather liked how the opening and ending scenes were concerned with the same event and chronologically took place in the middle of the story. Quentin Tarantino's dialogue is realistic but cool; I liked how the characters talked about mundane things; it made them feel far more real than if they had only talked about things relevant to the plot as characters in most films do. Overall I'd definitely recommend this film; it is gripping, full of great characters and dialogue and contains many unforgettable scenes it does however contain material that will offend many people; most notably a lot of swearing and liberal use of 'The N-Word' as well as some shocking moments.