A crackling script, fast paced direction, fine performances from a great cast and a superb soundtrack make this compulsive and essential viewing. Everybody has their own favourite moments in this film full of memorable scenes. Tarantino established an almost impossible standard to live up to when he released this piece of work. It can certainly be argued that Pulp Fiction is cinema pastiche but it is a great film none the less.
Quentin Tarantino's second film, Pulp Fiction takes the viewer on a cerebral, sensual and emotional rollercoaster ride and, as such, is not a film for the easily-confu... more >
Quentin Tarantino's second film, Pulp Fiction takes the viewer on a cerebral, sensual and emotional rollercoaster ride and, as such, is not a film for the easily-confused or faint-of-heart...but then, you probably knew that already.
Tarantino's style of filming pays direct tribute to the genres which he clearly adores, but is never overly-reverential. Then again, things move at such a fast pace that it doesn't have time to be. The curious non-chronological sequencing has the film opening and closing with the same attempted heist in a diner; in between we inevitably see plenty of blood and gore, but are also privy to some high drama, intrigue, duplicity, black comedy, sexual tension, moral dilemma and some of the most innovative and quotable dialogue in modern-day cinema, which at times makes even the inane seem interesting ('Le Big Mac' indeed).
A stellar cast turn in some fine performances. Samuel L. Jackson (in the role that made his name) and John Travolt a (getting a long-awaited lease of cinematic life) are the epitomy of gun-toting cool. Bruce Willis is appropriately bullish - or 'Butch', if you prefer - as a double-crossing boxer, Uma Thurman smoulders in a wig as gangster's moll Mia Wallace, while Harvey Keitel and Christopher Walken both come close to stealing the show in cameo roles. Walken's Vietnam vet is a far cry from his role in The Deer Hunter, treading the line between serious and comical quite brilliantly.
Tarantino's first film Reservoir Dogs introduced him as a bright new light in '90s cinema. Pulp Fiction cemented this reputation, and remains not just the best of his films thus far, but is quite possibly the best film of that decade. < less
