PULP FICTION
A film review by Jon A. Webb
Copyright 1994 Jon A. Webb
PULP FICTION is a fun film with rich philosophical undertones. Much has been made of its violence, but here the violence plays only a secondary role (unlike, say, NATURAL BORN KILLERS.) Only a blue-nose could find this film anything but funny.
I am reminded of a play which I know only from the title and a very brief description: ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD. This takes the minor characters from HAMLET and makes them the central figures; it turns out they have a lot of interesting things to say.
The Rosencrantz and Guildenstern characters here are two mob hit men played by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. They work their way through murders, discussing philosophy and religion. Travolta's character has a remarkable knack for pursuing an argument to its logical conclusion, like a philosophy professor; Jackson's character, however, comes closer to the real point of the movie.
The point of the movie is the manipulation of these people's lives by God. Some are miraculously saved; others are killed through arbitrary accidents. Characters meet each other accidentally, leading to incredible confrontations; they are momentarily inattentive and die. In the face of these manipulations some, through strong character, achieve control over these events and end up going toe-to-toe with God in influencing the story.
The real god in this movie is the playwright and director, Quentin Tarentino, of course. He shows up in a cute vignette as the wimpy put-upon friend of Jackson's character.
There are a number of good performances here. The most amazing is that of John Travolta, who has perhaps never been given proper credit for his earlier roles, where he may have been acting much more than people realized. Certainly his character here is complex and deeply felt.
Samuel L. Jackson establishes himself here as being able to play a straight, solid, serious character, which must help him in the future. After the madness of JUNGLE FEVER and this, he's shown he can play quite a range of types with great force.
As always I'm amazed by Bruce Willis's appeal. He plays the same character here as always--strong, wise-cracking, etc.--good as ever if you like him. (Though I don't; I'm always reminded of the "Saturday Night Live" skit where the truth comes out--he made a deal with the devil.)
Uma Thurman plays a role that seems to have been written for Winona Ryder. Certainly she looks quite a bit like her, and her character is more Ryder-esque than Thurman-esque. She's not bad at it, but I don't think she added a lot to the role.
Maria de Medeiros has a sweet and memorable role as Bruce Willis's girlfriend. She's quite appealing, and I look forward to seeing her expand on this character in the future.
Harvey Keitel plays a somewhat expanded version of his character from POINT OF NO RETURN. Here he talks more and has more class (he's wearing a tux at 8:30 in the morning.) Nice, but nothing new.
Eric Stoltz is great as the drug dealer--his panic, etc., is great comedy.
Roseanne Arquette does a brief turn as his wife; the glee that crosses her face in the piercing scene is worth a good fraction of the price of admission.
I really liked Christopher Walken's scene. It's nothing he hasn't done before, but the story is perfectly told, and the choice of Walken is just perfect.
Amanda Plummer goes a little farther into madness this time. I see her as getting increasingly typecast, and I feel sorry for her since I think she has much greater range than she's being given a chance to exhibit,
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