Tarantino's Modern Classic

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2011)

Pulp Fiction is one of the most influential movies of its decade. It spawned tons of imitators in both style, character development, and structure. Its nonlinear timeline may or may not be a Tarantino homage to Citizen Kane, and can be seen in such modern classics as Memento and The Usual Suspects to name an elite few. There are no bad scenes in this movie. It starts strong, gets better, and then ends on a high note. While it concerns the lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a crime boss's wife, a pair of petty thieves in a nonlinear tale of the intersecting story lines, its style and the characters make it about much more. Amazing opening scene kicks off the fun when Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and Pumpkin (Tim Roth) casually discuss their robbery strategies, profess their sugar sweet love for each other, and then sudden shift into full throated threats toward the patrons in the quiet dinner. The opening conversation between Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samual L. Jackson) is a classic in hyper stylized cool hipster conversation. There musings on a life in Amsterdam, a "Royal with Cheese" , and the appropriateness of as foot massage, and what may happen if someone gets too cozy with the big bosses woman is a definite high point in scatological dialogue from a crime movie. All of the acting here is top notch. Travolta makes an impressive return. He exudes charisma and is pitch perfect in every scene. Michael Madsen was originally offered the role, but due to scheduling difficulties was not able to participate. While Madsen was terrific in Tranatino's first directorial outing Reservoir Dogs, it's now hard to imagine anyone else in the role other than Travolta. The date at Jack Rabbit Slims is about as much fun as can be had in a restaurant. Travolta gets to reprise his dancing, which helped skyrocket him to fame in the 70's, while helping reestablish himself here after his career waned somewhat during the late 80s. Uma Thurman does well as the big crime bosses sexy wife Mia. The black bangs seem to be a nod to other bad girls, or maybe Bettie Page. The OD scene is harrowing. Samual L. Jackson also delights as a contemplative hit man Jules. Does a movie get any more intense then when Jules spouts his Ezekiel speech as he looks down his gun barrel at a man who tried to do Marcellus Wallace wrong?
It would be hard to imagine these two veteran actors having a cooler more impressive role then they found here with Tarantino's dialogue. Does it get any better than when Jules has his gun on Honey Bunny and he muses on the meaning of his Ezekiel passage? Bruce Willis does great job as the boxer who is coerced to throw a fight. He is great here as the old Palooka nearing the end and looking for one last big payday. Great interplay with his love interest helps provide some character balance countered by him almost going ballistic when she forgets his most prized possession when they start on the lam. I absolutely love Christopher Walken's cameo speech to a young boy, and all that had transpired in order for him to present him with the family heirloom wrist watch. I loved Bruce Willis and Ving Rhame's collision, fight and the scenes eventually payoff. "Bring in the Gimp" is a fantastic set piece. All of the characters here are vivid, stylized originals un-paralleled elsewhere. Dialogue is at the heart of Quenton Tarantino film. It could be compared to Raymond Chandler or Elmore Leonard. It is fascinating and stylish and speaks volumes of the hip styling's of the characters and movies which were written by Tarantino. A self-professed movie junky, Trantino is able to supple his characters with a way of speaking about the mundane that both informs the viewer, as well as the other characters, that the conversation here is not only fun, but it is speaking volumes. About the only thing that may be more revered than the dialogue here is the movies violence. There is a ton of it in this movie. The movie never seems to use violence as the attraction, but it does revel in the titillation associated with its allure. There are so many lines and scenes here that are now classics. The characters here aren't always talking about what has transpired, or what is going to happen, they leave normal plot devices to immerse themselves, and the view are, in to highly stylized lingo that becomes even more interesting than the violence in which they participate. The violence takes a back seat to the dialogue, but still there is no escape from what implications are doled out by violence here.
This is a modern day classic. . It is exhilarating from start to finish. It is one of the crime genres greatest movies, and deserves to be held in high esteem from the industries top critics. It ranks as IMDb's #5 ranked movie of all time. Roger Ebert gives it high praise, two thumbs way up, and 4 out of 4 stars, while including it as one of his re-reviewed entries in his book 'The Great Movies'. This is a pop culture at it apex. American Film Institute list saw Pulp Fiction ranked #95 in 1997, and was #94 ten years later in the revised 2007 list, while ranking as the #7 'Gangster' movie from an AFI list from 1998. Bottom Line: I would give this movie a 96. It would be more enjoyed by those who don't avoid violence in films, and should be avoided by those with conservative tastes.