Review of True Romance (1993) by Filmmaster — 20 Apr 2015

A shy under-achiever falls in love with the hooker who was his birthday present and they get married but the whirlwind romance is heading for some complications... like hitmen and psycho drug dealers.

Quentin Tarantino’s True Romance script is an elaborate, extended fantasy that sees a geeky shop assistant transformed into a great lover, a vengeful vigilante and, ultimately, a smooth criminal.

Even with an excellent screenplay and a rogues gallery of protagonists waiting to be brought to life, any film needs the right director, and True Romance boasts an ideal helmer in the unlikely shape of Tony Scott. Who better than the director of Top Gun to bring an arrested adolescents fantasy to life? Scott verges on self-parody in terms of the gloss and pace he brings to proceedings, giving the movie a relentless energy that never allows the audience to stop and consider the absurdity of it all.

Alabamas execution of Virgil, complete with feral scream and lovingly photographed, blood-soaked breasts, earned the film notoriety and a run-in with the censors, although Scotts approach to the material is best summed up by another, less controversial creative decision. The script has Clarences initial drug-hawking meeting with Elliot take place, unremarkably enough, in a zoo, but the director wanted something with a little more pizzazz, so he set the sequence on a rollercoaster. Tarantino is overstating the case when he compares Scott to undervalued auteurs of the past (Douglas Sirk he aint), but theres no doubt he was perfect to orchestrate this wild ride.

This is not only an immensely entertaining violent action but genuinely romantic at times. Tarantino's dialogue is as sparkling as ever.

A True Masterpiece.