Pulp Fiction (1994)
Review by Laurence Mixson (venom8@hotmail.com)
Starring John Tavolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Quentin Tarantino, and Christopher Walken.
***** out of ****
Artistically speaking, Pulp Fiction was hands-down the best movie of 1994, and I'd even say it was the best movie of the '90's. Yet it's also one of the most misunderstood films out there. Pulp Fiction only won two oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards, although it was nominated for many, including Best Picture and Best Actor. The two oscars it did manage to walk away with were for Best Original Screenplay(to Roger Avery and Quentin Tarantino) and Best Supporting Actor(to Samuel L. Jackson.) It's main competition, Forrest Gump, got away with the rest. Yet Pulp Fiction was a better film than Forrest Gump. Now don't get me wrong here; I loved Forrest Gump, it was a **** film. It was a wonderfully orignal comedy/drama that genuinely made you feel for an unlikely hero. But that's about all it was: an original movie that was fun to watch. Pulp Fiction contained, and stood, for a whole lot more. To get to the plot: there's nothing conventional about Pulp Fiction, including the plot structure. The movie is comprised of three stories, but it's not an anthology, because the stories connect. Not only that, but they cut off and then start back up again at different times, in between segments. Pulp Fiction doesn't follow in a chronological order, either, and in one bizarre side effect of this, a character is shot dead in the middle of the film yet returns again at the finale, because of the film's odd continuity. The four stories are rather simple enough: the first one deals with two lovers(Roth, Plummer) who decide to rob a restaurant. The second one concerns two hitman(Travolta, Jackson), as they go to "finish up some business" with their boss' estranged business assosciates. The third is about a boxer(Willis) who upsets that same boss(Rhames) after refusing to take a fall in a match the boss bet heavily on. There's more to each story than that, of course, but I only listed the opening scenes of each segment. The first story is the weakest and takes up the least screeen time; the two lovers, known only as Pumpkin and Honey Bunny(their pet names for one another) basically just sit around and talk about the robbery. That is, until they meet up with the hitmen later. Those two hitmen, named Vincent(Travolta) and Jules(Jackson), have the most interesting story going for them, and it takes up the most screen time and is divided into several parts. Their scene opens with them driving to a hit in their car. Later scenes include Vincent taking his boss' wife out while the boss, name Marcellus Wallace, is out of town(it's a favor for the boss) and, uh "cleaning up" after a hilarious incidence that occurs in his car. I'll touch on that one later... The boxer segment deals with Butch Coolidge(Willis), who is payed by Marcellus to take a fall in the 5th round. He refuses to do so, and actually winds up killing his opponent in the ring. He escapes, and later he and the Marcellus have an intersting run-in with two hicks in a pawn shop. The best thing about Pulp Fiction is that each of these stories are deeper and more complex than they sound on the surface: for one thing, they're very realistic. When Vincent and Jules are driving to the place where they're to carry out their hit, they don't act like the "cool" hitmen you always see on the screen. They discuss what hamburgers are called in France(Royales with Cheese)and such. These conversations are not only hilarious in their content but are funny because of who's saying it. The most humorous scene, the one I mentioned earlier, occurs when they're transporting a guy named Marvin back to their boss, Marcellus. Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin in the face, and blows his head into little pieces all over him, Jules, and the car. In a panic, they rush to a friend's house, Jimmy(Tarantino)who contacts Wintson Wolf(Keitel) to come and help them clean up the gore and dispose of the car. This scene works, in terms of humor, not only because of everyone's dialogue as they work, but because everyone, including Marcellus, is panicking and trying to hurry the clean-up simply because Jimmy's wife comes home soon, and she would divorce Jimmy if she saw those people in her home. The sight of all these tough hitmen and cold-blooded killers panicking over a woman coming home is way too funny. Pulp Fiction was heavily criticized when it came out for being violent, but I actually thought the violence was very subdued, and nothing compared to most movies these days. When people are shot, it's almost always off camera and rarely bloody. Sure, poor Marvin has his head blown off, but all that's shown is the blood splattered everywhere, not the actual act. Die Hard with a Vengeance or Desperado were both a hundred times more violent than Pulp Fiction, as I'm sure anyone who's seen these films will agree, yet no one whined and complained about those pictures. So what's the deal with Pulp Fiction? Basically, if you're into comedies, dramas, action pictures, arthouse films, or something a little different, then Pulp Fiction will work for you, because it manages to take the best elements from all of these genres and combine them into one great big spectacle of a motion picture. So go to the nearest video store and rent a copy if you haven't seen it yet. Or even if you have. Trust me, you won't be dissapointed.
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