Pulp Fiction (1994) Dir: Quentin Tarantino
- Ridley Coote
- May 16
- 3 min read
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This 1994 crime film, from acclaimed writer and director Quentin Tarantino, is almost certainly his most famous and most lauded success. It's a film that seemingly everyone has seen or at least heard of. It's eternally quoted and referenced, and it's the ultimate "Film Bro" movie, for better or worse. I have seen the film a number of times, over the years - after all, it is the quintessential Tarantino film. I like it, but, no, I don't think it's the best film ever, or anything like that.
One thing this film does have which is absolutely brilliant, is its soundtrack. It mixes in all sorts of memorable and niche throwback songs to provide the film with an epic and iconic playlist. It is by far my favourite aspect of this film - it's varied, it's judiciously selected, and it's just really easy to listen to. It's one of those rare non-original soundtracks that suits its film just about perfectly.
As is expected with Tarantino films, in part due to the reputation of this very film, the dialogue is very good. That said, Tarantino can't help but fill it with terrible and offensive language, half of it said by Tarantino himself. I suppose local colloquialisms come into play, but I still don't see why the man writing the screenplay needed to use a racial slur several times.
The narrative, of course, is composed of three separate, but intertwining stories, all shown nonchronologically. It is a classic example of atypical story structure, with the film's out-of-sequence mode of storytelling working just as well as if it were all shown in timeline order. There is one part of the story I absolutely hate, due to its fairly extreme nature, which those who have seen the film will surely know immediately. It's a horribly explicit and honestly random scene, which I hate.
The film is full of huge Hollywood names and some truly iconic performances, including from some who have pretty minute roles. For me, the best of these performances is provided by the legendary actor and Tarantino favourite; Samuel L. Jackson, who displays some of the best dialogue and monologue delivery one can see in any film. He is just about as close to perfect as one can get.
Huge praise should also be mounted on the pair of John Travolta and Uma Thurman, who are stellar together, particularly during the diner sequence. The two have chemistry to the moon and back, and their character work was sublime, especially in the case of Thurman. It's honestly no surprise that Tarantino went on to use Thurman in 'Kill Bill' a few years down the line.
The other two standouts are, of course, the pair of Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames. Both men are macho, testosterone fueled men with a mean streak, and both display this with gusto and ease. I think it's fair to call this Rhames' best career performance, certainly that I've seen. And I wouldn't be shy about placing this amongst Bruce Willis' best performances either.
There are a bunch of actors who don't get a lot.of screentime, but all provide high quality and memorable, performances, which I will list in order of my personal enjoyment; Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, Maria de Medeiros, Eric Stoltz, and Amanda Plummer. Quentin Tarantino also made a brief appearance, it's worth mentioning.
Overall, whilst I don't watch this one all top often anymore, I still find the bulk of it very enjoyable. It's a certified 90's classic, and one of those films that will likely still be talked about for another fifty years at the very least. Yes, it has become the source of mockery over the last decade in particular, but, in fairness to the film bros, it is a pretty damn good film.
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