Undeniably different. But is it good...?

Rating: 7/10 (29 September 2016)

If you care to look deeply into this story, there is probably a lot to be found, but I was not terribly inclined. Unfortunately, the hype gave me too high of expectations, and I was disappointed. It was interesting to have a story with no real through line, but that structural convention exists for a reason. There have been hundreds of great movies that have been made with a conventional structure, and it keeps us interested. Of course, there's nothing wrong with doing things non-linearly either, but it helps to have a dramatic question in the audience's mind, and Pulp Fiction has no such question.
It does succeed in being realistic, entertaining at times, cohesive, original, somewhat thematic, and well-crafted. Perhaps I don't appreciate the originality of it enough, but I had no reason to care about what was going on. While the scenes themselves have goals and conflicts, there is no greater conflict or goal to give them purpose. While this is somewhat true to real life, it made it hard for me to get engaged with what was happening.
Otherwise, it is masterfully done. Tarantino does a fabulous job of keeping the conversations realistic and somewhat concise. I didn't think any of the acting was fabulous, but it was still good. Everybody is always in character. There wasn't as much notable camera-work in here like in some of the newer Tartantino's like Hateful 8, Kill Bill, or Django. But the blood was still just as copious and overly red. On a total side note, it would be kind of funny to see somebody try to perform an autopsy in a Tarantino movie and have to deal with the victims having their heads blown totally off.
The theme of redemption didn't stick out to me when I watched it, but I guess it fits for Jules and Butch. The climatic scene with Jules turning his back on his violent ways was probably the best one overall. This climax was pretty much the only thing I thought was good about the non-linear story. It's interesting to think that the most important or dramatic event in a series of events isn't necessarily the final one. That's part of why movies that are based on real events aren't always as dramatic as fiction; there's always more ends that need to be tied up after the climax. It's also why most people don't really have experiences that would make a good climatic scene at any point in their lives. This would also explain the longer run-time. Every conflict has to be set up and resolved independently of each other, which takes time since the story lines only intersect a couple of times.
I don't know that I can conclusively call this impressive. It's original and different, but that doesn't necessarily mean better. If you love Tarantino and haven't already seen this, you'll probably like it. Some might find it entertaining, but I got a little bored at some points. My one word of advice would be to avoid hyping it up for yourself. Overall Rating: 7.1/10.