(The following movie that is discussed in this article is R rated, and intended for mature audiences. Viewer discretion advised if you decide to watch this film.)
“Pulp Fiction” is one of those movies I can’t get enough of. As soon as I finish watching it, I instantly want to watch it again right after. Every little thing about the movie is pure perfection.
The movie is hard to summarize, as it is made up of different stories. But it basically revolves around a crime lord/mobster named Marsellus Wallace. Through him the story follows two hitmen (Vincent and Jules) who end up getting into trouble after retrieving an important briefcase that belongs to Wallace. They encounter a group of robbers who try to rob a restaurant that they’re attending, causing more issues. Vincent is also tasked with taking out Wallace’s wife Mia to entertain her for a night while he’s out of town. The story also involves a struggling boxer (Butch) who Wallace makes an agreement to pay him if he loses a boxing match against one of his employees, but Butch ends up killing his opponent in the boxing match causing him to get hunted down by the gang.
Recently I have been watching movies from the talented creator Quentin Tarantino. So far I have seen three masterpiece films he made: “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Jackie Brown.” All of them were perfect down to their core, but “Pulp Fiction” specifically stood out to me the most to me. And I know that “Pulp Fiction” is usually considered a generic choice when thought of as Tarantino’s best film, but after watching the movie it’s easy to see why.
While movies like “Jackie Brown” are overlooked when thought of as Tarantino’s best films, I do think “Pulp Fiction” is deserving of the title, because everything about the film is so excellently written. The film really lets the characters tell the story through their dialogue. Quentin Tarantino once said that he puts so much detail into his scripts, that he writes them as if they were a novel, making them their own work of literature. Based on the movie, I can tell the script would be just as enjoyable to read. The lines used in the film were written as if they were a normal conversation between real people. And when there would be a complicated line of dialogue I would hear in the film, it wouldn’t sound unnatural, but rather make the character really seem brilliant in a real life kind of way.
The cast was excellently put together. I’d say John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson stole the show, but that wouldn’t be sufficient because of how good the other actors were, like Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth. They all seemed to pour their souls into these characters, which made them so entertaining to watch on screen. Travolta brought so much style realism to his character making his character (Vincent Vega) probably my favorite part of the film, which is really hard to say because of how much greatness was in the movie.
My favorite segment in the movie has to be “Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace’s Wife” because of how creatively everything was put together. The whole scene that took place in the ’50s style restaurant was pretty much built off of the characters having small talk, and yet fit in the film perfectly. Then, as if it couldn’t get any better, audiences got to see John Travolta dance again, as it had been over a decade since his iconic movie “Saturday Night Fever.” There was so much packed into that segment in the movie, but nothing felt too quickly paced at all. It had the perfect amount of everything and got intense at the right moment. Without spoiling too much, there was a part that even made me cringe. Not because it was bad, but because of how great it was. I was so invested in the movie that it was almost painful to watch that specific part in that chapter of the movie.
The soundtrack is another thing about this movie that I really admire. Chuck Berry and other fantastic artists fill out the soundtrack. Also, it has a lot of surfer music, with that classic surfer guitar sound. It really helps with the film’s style and tone. It’s basically the icing on the cake for the movie in my opinion.
You’re in for an exciting ride if you watch this movie. It is made in such a unique way. The film is made up of different stories where you meet new characters and have the story continue for other characters. It’s almost told through different characters’ perspectives, which surprisingly doesn’t make things the least bit confusing. And I think that is the point of the movie: you’re not supposed to overthink it; rather, you’re just meant to go with the flow. It’s kind of refreshing to watch something so complex in such an easy to understand way. It is so exciting to watch, and is my go-to movie any day of the week. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s one of the few movies I have absolutely no problems with. Even in some of my favorite films, I have something negative to say about them, or something that doesn’t make me always want to watch them. It’s like, they’re good movies and all but, when I’m looking through DVDs on the entertainment center shelves, I’m just not always in the mood to sit through them – I’m not always feeling them. But I could literally watch “Pulp Fiction” right now. It’s just that good of a film. It has the perfect amount of comedy, drama, and thrills.
It is so iconic and fun to watch. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes movies because of how different it is, and what an interesting take on film it has. Not even a near-perfect film, but an actual perfect film. It made me fascinated with Quentin Tarantino’s work, and I am continuing to explore his films today. I personally think that Hollywood needs more people with new ideas, and a similar mindset to Tarantino’s because it introduced such a new and exciting way of to make films. If there’s one thing Hollywood needs, it is more creativity, and Tarantino has it.
5/5 stars for me.
