Style over substance

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2005)

Quentin Tarantino's film is very dramatic and engaging. The acting -- especially by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson -- is outstanding. The slicing of the time line is awkward at times, but it demands attention and makes a repeat viewing valuable, if not necessary. Nevertheless, in the end I ask myself: What I have learned? Where has this film taken me? It is like taking a wild roller coaster ride. It is worth riding again. But I cannot put it in the same category of great films that raise important issues or dramatize a moral dilemma. It does not have the philosophical dimension of great cinema like "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Seven Samurai," or "Monsieur Verdoux." On the contrary, it's near glorification of gratuitous violence -- not matter how cinematic -- is ultimately offensive.