Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) Review

As I mentioned in my review of Se7en, I have turned to IMDb's top 250 in search of entertainment but I noticed that I've owned Pulp Fiction for a while yet I haven't actually watched it. Number 5 (as of time of writing) is commendable so I figured "what the hell" and gave it a watch. With all the quotes and memes this movie spawned, how good is Pulp Fiction? Let's find out.

Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) are two hitmen sent out to retrieve a mysterious briefcase for their boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). After doing so in one of the film's best scenes (you know the one), Marsellus asks Vincent to look after his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) while he's out of town. Meanwhile, famed boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is paid by Marsellus to throw the latest match. Many crazy twists and turns lead all the stories together at random intervals making for an anthology.

Yeah, this is a good film. A VERY good film. Pulp Fiction is in a league of it's own. The actors are fantastic, hence why three of them were nominated for Oscars. I'm surprised none of them won to be honest as they are one of the best elements. I say "one of" because the single greatest thing about Pulp Fiction is the writing. There is a reason that this is one of the most quoted films of all time and that is because of the writing. The interesting thing about it is that a lot of it is technically unnecessary but it adds to the realism. The characters come to life as we see them in domesticated environments in contrast to the crazy scenarios they find themselves in. It's an advancement of what Burn After Reading was trying to achieve (actually, that was probably inspired by Pulp Fiction in terms of tone and multiple stories).

I absolutely love the way that the narrative is structured. It's one thing to separate to plot into an anthology but it's also out of chronological order. It knows that the audience will be confused and uses familiar dialogue to make the audience instantly realise what scenario is happening. It's a genius use of call-backs and use of sound editing. The tone is also handled very well. It balances out serious scenes with hilarious scenes (black humour applied).

Now that I've seen Pulp Fiction, I have a candidate for one of the best films ever. There is no fault in this one. Even if there were, the pros far outweigh the cons. Genius writing, a well structured plot, fantastic acting and a great use of black humour (it makes murder funny!). I cannot recommend Pulp Fiction enough...if you can get into it. Depends what you are expecting from a film by Quentin Tarantino.

Verdict:
10/10
Everything is done perfectly! One of the finely crafted films out there.

Also, Bruce Willis in this film will go down as one of the biggest Oscar snubs.