Review of Pulp Fiction (1994) by Johnny T — 07 Jun 2014

One of the most influential films of the 1990s, Pulp Fiction is a delirious post-modern mix of neo-noir thrills, pitch-black humor, and pop-culture touchstones. John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson are terrific as talkative hit men, and Bruce Willis is equally good as a boxer who refuses to throw a fight. A triumphant, cleverly disorienting journey through a demimonde that springs entirely from Mr. Tarantino's ripe imagination, a landscape of danger, shock, hilarity, and vibrant local color. Nothing is predictable or familiar within this irresistibly bizarre world. Some of its strengths still impress. There's the trivial-turned-menacing, the gangster-gone-poppy, and the various sadness's, poignancies, and tragic pointlessness that seep out of the best noirs. Pulp Fiction isn't the sleazy work of a shock artist giving us things no one else will put on film. This is the work of someone talented, smart and thrilled to be making movies, giving us things no one else can put on film. But what makes the film such wicked fun is the way Tarantino delivers the familiar with a twist. He continually prepares us for one thing and then delivers another. Brilliantly written and unfathomably cool, this would make a good case for most quotable crime movie of all time.

VERDICT: "High-Quality Stuff" - [Positive Reaction] This is a rating to a movie I view as very entertaining and well made, and definitely worth paying the full price at a theatre to see or own on DVD. It is not perfect, but it is definitely excellent. (Films that are rated 3.5 or 4 stars).