"Pulp Fiction" is a brilliantly crafted film. The many separate vignettes all are quite compelling and fit together wonderfully. And, on top of that, the script and acting are exceptional. And, most importantly, the film is wildly original and very, very stylish. The only reservations I have are minor. First, while this is a very, very good film, I can't see why it is ranked #5 all-time on IMDb. This seems wildly overrated and too often more recent films seem to dominated IMDb's Top 250. Second, this film is certainly NOT for everyone, as in spots it is tremendously violent (like any Tarantino film) and should not be viewed by kids or the overly sensitive.
Because there are so many reviews for the film already, I won't bother to try to give a synopsis of the film or do an in-depth analysis.
Pulp Fiction
1994
Action / Crime / Drama
Pulp Fiction
1994
Action / Crime / Drama
Plot summary
Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) are two hit men who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.
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Brilliantly constructed.
One of the best films of the 90s
What can I say? This film is amazing, and I would go further and say it is my favourite Quentin Tarantino film, and one of my favourites of the 90s. The cinematography and scenery are spellbinding, and the soundtrack is brilliant, one of the best soundtracks in a Tarantino film actually. The plot is every bit as compelling as that for Reservoir Dogs, while the dialogue is endlessly quotable and quite hard-boiled. The direction is superb, as are the performances. As excellent as Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken are, the film's best actors are John Travolta and Samuel L.Jackson who are unforgettable. Pulp Fiction also has a wealth of characters and crossplots that is really quite astonishing. All in all, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Worth the hype
Quentin Tarantino's gallery of grotesques is definitely a strange film to watch. Breaking many of the modern rules of a film - there are four interlocking stories instead of one, the subject matters tackled are extremely adult and may not be to everybody's taste - it's a wonder that the film succeeds, but in the end PULP FICTION has to be one of the best films of the 1990s. As much as we would like to ignore it, this is what the world is like today, full of drugs, violence and hostility, and it's about time a film faced up to the real world. PULP FICTION does just this.
I liked three of the stories, but the one involving Travolta and Thurman left me cold I'm afraid. For a start, it's far too long and needlessly talky (about nothing in particular),and could have been cut down a lot. It seems to take ages to get to the actual horror of the piece (Thurman's drug overdose and subsequent heart injection),and when that moment comes, it's over extremely quickly. There is no particularly memorable dialogue here, either.
The surrounding story, where the couple hold up a restaurant, is perfectly set up, and the final moments, where Jackson holds up the robbers himself, does show some of Tarantino's genius as Jackson quietly discusses the situation with his would-be robbers in a matter-of-fact way. The story of Travolta and Jackson trying to clear up their 'mess' is an excellent piece of black comedy, well-timed and with a scene-stealing performance from Harvey Keitel as the Wolf. Bruce Willis' story is very good too, with some unexpected twists in the tale and some harrowing scenes.
There's a catchy jukebox score and an ensemble cast to liven things up too. The cast list is a reading of '90s talent: John Travolta in his comeback film; Samuel L Jackson was relatively unheard-of then; Uma Thurman proved herself as a woman to be reckoned with; Bruce Willis lent another world-weary performance to his CV, and none the worse for it; Ving Rhames also proved himself as an up-and-coming actor; Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer were cool and hysterical in equal measures; Harvey Keitel stole the show as clear-up man; Quentin Tarantino put in a twitchy cameo appearance which wasn't as nearly as bad as everybody said; Eric Stoltz was memorable as a stoned drug addict...the list is endless, really. There are other names I miss out in the interests of space.
While Tarantino's rapid-fire dialogue is as sharp as ever (his decision to have the hit men talk about normal, everyday things like Quarter Pounders and Big Macs instead of "gangster stuff" was very clever),it is the succession of odd images which really stay in the mind, such as Travolta accidentally blowing apart someone's head; Willis and Rhames fighting, escaping into a spare-part shop and getting attacked; Thurman's adrenaline injection and the hysteria surrounding it; and finally Roth and Plummer getting the tables turned on them. All of these moments help to make PULP FICTION an endearing slice of cinema, which I'm sure will be remembered as a minor classic in years to come.