Super-Cool Movie!

Rating: Null/10 (24 November 2001)

Quentin Tarantino's explosive debut feature struck some as a pretentious, audacious, over-talkative and thoroughly objectionable piece of work that plagiarizes from every Hong Kong action movie, crime thriller and even a couple of slapstick comedies imaginable. Most people, myself included, see it as a dazzling, mesmerizing and brilliant revival of a long-forgotten genre that ended up being the last word (or frame) on the subject. With a superb ensemble cast (though some say that anyone could have played the parts and it still would have been good), tremendous script and stylish direction, this rightly turned many heads and even a few stomachs. As for accusations of plagiarism, which modern movie doesn't steal from a few old ones? Amongst the celebration of trash culture and 70's tackiness, Tarantino has taught us, if anything, that plagiarism is fine as long as it is done with some originality.