A brilliantly original, unforgettable film!

Rating: 9/10 (25 August 2002)

I just bought the "Pulp Fiction" Collector's Edition DVD boxed set, and I was glad I did. Not only does it include this great movie, but it also contains an interview with Quentin Tarantino on the "Charlie Rose" show, an interview with him and Michael Moore at the Independent Spirit Awards and even a Trivia Track. It would've been way cool if it included director's or actors' commentary, but I still felt it was worth my money--especially since I got it for a good price at $19.99.
Anyways, back to the movie. This is an inspired, truly original work of art that doesn't appear like the traditional work of art. This can be considered an art film, but it's not an art film that bores you with pretention after pretention and has almost no momentum to keep it going. This film has plenty of momentum. Even at 2 hours and 30 minutes, I had trouble hitting the "Pause" button.
First of all, the cast is topnotch. As many know, this is the film that re-launched John Travolta's career. And that's great, being that he's one hell of an actor, and this is one of his best performances--the ultra-cool Vincent Vega. Ironically enough, he was only paid about 10,000 dollars (give or take) for this movie, being that it was shot on a modest budget--though it rarely shows. And now he's a multi-millionaire. I think Travolta owes more than a "thank you" to Mr. Tarantino. Samuel L. Jackson is also terrific as the ultra-hip Jules Winnfield. He has some of the best lines, which I will get to later. Bruce Willis gives one of his best performances, showing that as well as a great movie star he's also a terrific actor. Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer are great in the opening and closing scenes, though I wish their accents could've been a tad less thick. Harvey Keitel makes a moderately short but memorable appearance. Ving Rhames is thoroughly convincing as the terrifyingly evil Marscellus Wallace. Eric Stoltz and Rosanna Arquette have some funny moments as Travolta's drug-dealing buddies. And Uma Thurman--though not a very beautiful actress--is perfect as the free-spirited, coke-snorting Mia Wallace.

My favorite element of this movie? (And I'm sure I'm not alone on this one) The dialogue, of course! "Pulp Fiction" has some of the most memorable dialogue in movie history. Tarantino has an incredible knack for writing dialogue, as shown before in movies like "Reservoir Dogs," "True Romance" and "From Dusk Till Dawn." After watching this movie twice (since purachasing the DVD), there are some lines I simply cannot shake out my head. These are some of my favorite quotes:
"My name is Pitt, and yo a*s ain't talkin' your way out of this s**t."
"Does he look like a b**ch? I said, 'Does he look like a b**ch!'"
(After the cab driver asks Butch--Bruce Willis--what his name means) "This is America. Our names don't mean s**t."
"Pulp Fiction" is the perfect balance of dark comedy, crime drama, romance and action. It's a wild, perfectly enjoyable ride that you will never forget. OK, so this movie does go into the love-it-or-hate-it category. I personally love the movie, but there is the minority that don't think too much of "PF." Whenever you have a movie that's 2 hours and 30 minutes long, packed with dialogue, packed with profanity and doesn't bombard its audience with gratuitous visuals, you can't expect everybody to embrace it with open arms. In a short while, I've fell in love with Tarantino's unique, realistic and profane writing/directorial style. Others can't quite handle it. I still don't understand the whole violence issue. In the average movie, you see about 20 guys getting blown away with machine guns all within a 3-minute scene. Most of the violence here is left to the imagination. Well, I guess people have a strong imagination.
My only criticisms are a few slow moments and one cheesy attempt at rear-screen projection (during the Bruce Willis cab scene) in which the cab is obviously not moving and you see black-and-white footage (probably from an old movie) in the background. But I still consider this a great movie, and one I'm proud to include in my DVD collection. I can't wait 'til the Special Edition of "Reservoir Dogs" comes out this week, so can buy it and the "Jackie Brown" DVD to complete my Tarantino collection. And is the soundtrack great or what! I actually bought the soundtrack before I bought the movie, and I fell in love with the music just as much. It includes such greats as Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" and "Jungle Boogie." And who can forget that great "Pulp Fiction" theme? It was interesting to find out that the song wasn't composed specifically for this movie, and that it did actually exist beforehand.
My score: 9 (out of 10)