Tarantinos romantic story with the unnecessary Hollywood gloss.

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2004)

Ever since I saw the indie classic `Reservoir Dogs', it felt like it was my mission to watch all the movies which was directed or written by the former video clerk. I have seen the mutterings of having cheeseburgers for breakfast in Pulp Fiction, the arterial spurts of a freshly chopped arm in Kill Bill Volume I, the double crossings of an air stewardess in Jackie Brown and the crazy obsession with celebrities in Natural Born Killers. So having read recently that QTs first major transcript was not Reservoir Dogs, but a movie I have not seen called True Romance. Basically I heard that this film was written way before the ear cutting classic. Sorry about the small story about the past works of one of the most influential directors of our time, but it helps me to be able to write this movie review.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
We should start this review at the only place it should begin, which is at the start. The film starts of with a chance meeting between a call girl named Alabama and an Elvis fanatic called Clarence during a martial arts extravaganza in a seedy cinema. During the usual getting to know chit chat, it seems that they have truly fallen in love, and before long they get married. One day, Clarence finds out that Alabama has a pimp, who was a nasty piece of work. With this knowledge, Clarence anger rises and silently swears to the King of Pop that he will seek vengeance on the prostitute pusher. After eliminating this person, Clarence picks up a bag, assuming that it was his wife's belongings. Instead it turns out to be a large stash of uncut cocaine. His plan was to sell this whole amount of cocaine to a big Hollywood producer to make a tidy amount of money. However another element joins into the equation, such as a sadistic mob who are pretty irate about their cocaine being stolen and would do anything to get it back. That is where the real fun starts in this movie, with the gangsters being on the tails of this movie's Bonnie and Clyde.
The casting ensemble for this movie is filled with some established actors as well as some up and coming actors who will become A-listed players. (Look at Brad Pitt and Samuel L Jackson for their bit parts in this movie) Christian Slater's character was believable, and he did have some aspects to make himself cool, especially liking Kung Fu movies and The King himself. Patricia Arquette played her character of Alabama, with some sexiness yet with simple and innocent way about it. Christopher Walkens made his role his own, by playing the stony face, sadistic Sicilian gangster. Dennis Hopper did do a good job on playing a simple living semi retired cop, who is the father of Clarence. However I do have to say that my favourite character in this movie was Bronson Pinchot's weasely, boot licking and cowardly portrayal of Elliot. This is probably one of his best acting screen time ever. Also, I do not want to forget the concept of Val Kilmer playing the King himself. It is a good thing that you do not see the King himself, but only his tacky gold suit, otherwise you would think that he would look nothing like Elvis.
As the review title says, this movie does not go without any flaws at all. The first flaw is the directing. Tony Scott did a reasonably good job in the directing, yet I still felt that it was out of place with the dialogue given by Tarintino. Once again, I would have to say sorry about the biasness towards Quentin, but if he was behind the camera in this movie, it would have turn into a much better picture. Personally I did not like the Hollywood gloss given over the movie. It just seems too fake, even though there were visions of Elvis taking to this guy, and a gratitous amounts of violence. Also another thing I did not like, is the concept of Gary Oldman playing Drexel. To me it just does not make sense to get a white guy to play a Rastafarian. Would it not have been easier to have gotten a black guy to play this role. Sorry to have gone Spike Lee on all you readers, but I had to say what I had to say. This does not mean that Gary Oldman acting was rubbish in this movie, but it would have been better that this character was played by an Afro Carribean origin.
To conclude, I do believe that this movie is very enjoyable, and great to watch, especially seeing cameos of soon to be big Hollywood players (Samuel L Jackson and Brad Pitt). Watch it if you like good crime movies with witty dialogue.