One of the top ten films of the Nineties

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2008)

Two people chat in a diner about their previous life of crime and the fact that robbing convenience stores is extremely dangerous, with more and more owners getting wise and arming up, however, punters in restaurant very often have more money and put up less of a fight. The language is coarse and quite off putting and when the credits kick in this continues with music that is an affront to the senses, unsettling them with huge brass sections that curdle the ears and batter the senses.
Cut to, Vincent and Jules, two hired goons sent to receive an object from a bunch of kids who are clearly dealing with people that they are out of their depth with. What follows is one of the most amazing and memorable film moments of the last 20 years as Samuel L Jackson gives his famous eulogy from the biblical passage Ezekial 25:19. From this point on we are exposed to the crime underbelly of America, an area which wants to do all it can to make money, an area immune from the law where people can do what they want without worry of prosecution or the law, Bruce Willis plays Butch, a boxer who the Crime Lord, Marcellus Wallace, is attempting to buy. After a brief encounter with Vincent Vega at the bar, what then begins in earnest are three very different stories The first story is Vincent and Mia's, where Vincent is asked to take Marcellus' wife out for the night while he is away. What follows is a night out that represents both the best and worst night out you could possibly ask for This is followed by the story of the Gold Watch and is Butch's tale about what happens in the fight and the immediate aftermath for all parties. This is arguably the funniest of the three stories, but that does not take away from the fact that it is still horrific.
The last story is the story of Jules and if the highlight of the film with one of the greatest scripted moments of all time as Jules explains to Ringo, clearly and concisely about who he is, what he is and what the world is all about, it is chilling, it is amazing, it is breath taking, and I remember leaving the cinema with a feeling that I'd not had since "The Empire Strikes Back" like someone experiencing cinema for the first time, which I guess the best cinema does.
The writing here is superb and had a profound effect on cinema with a lot of Tarentino style knock-offs coming after, but none quite matched this. The Direction is inventive and savage and as I mentioned previously seems to batter the senses, and yet the climactic ending is perfect in its subtle portrayal of a man who clearly understands his place in the world and is struggling to get out of it.
John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Bruce Willis are all fantastic, but Sam Jackson as Jules is simply perfect and to watch him as Jules experience something that logic clearly cannot explain and what it means to him, is something that is, well truly profound, and, as with a lot of Tarentino films, there is a very moral message lurking within the core of evil that seems to suffocate everything and everyone in the film. People complain that certain elements are homophobic, but their are gay criminals as well as straight and the way I see it is that we shouldn't be afraid to show both, after all, no-one complains about straight people being portrayed as criminals.
This is a great film that I believe will last the test of time, its performances are brilliant, although it is worth the time of watching just for Sam Jackson's performance alone and while Jackie Brown's subtlety make it a more enjoyable watch, this will be the film for which Tarentino will always be remembered, even though his star may fade over time.