Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Movie Review: Pulp Fiction (1994)


Style, style and more style. John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Samuel Jackson, Uma Thurman and above all, direction of Quaintain Tarantino. Can you expect anything less than 100% stylish and entertaining movie?

Starting with a pulse racing title music, the entire movie puts an iron grip around you for two and half hours time. I had watched this movie when I was a kid, some time during my school years. And I was totally clueless about why this movie was so famous. I had hardly understood some of the dialogues and those that i understood didn't make sense at that time. After talking to Priyanka a couple of days ago, I decided to give it another try, after all I am a huge fan of John Travolta! And I am glad I watched it again!

The movie is full of 'four letter words', crude humor, intermittent action scenes, closely knit storyline and a display of class acting. The underlying plot is about three men's lives (Travolta, Willis and Jackson) who work for a gangster (Rhames). The characters of these men are portrayed in a wonderful fashion and detail. They act differently in different situations and yet they have a common belief of loyalty and conviction.

[Spoiler Warning: Following contains details about suspense. So if you plan to watch the movie (which you should if you are a movie buff), don't read it till you watch the movie.]


Things I loved about the movie

-The scene in which Bruce Willis bursts into outrage over his lost watch which was a gift from his father.

- Bruce Willis going back to the cellar where Wallace was being tortured. Even though he himself wanted to kill Wallace, his conscience forced him to go back and save Wallace.

- Samuel Jackson reciting a verse from Bible every time before he was going to kill someone.

- Travolta and Thurman's dance on their date.

- Travolta's hair style and his on screen persona

- Samuel Jackson handling the robbery situation in the restaurant.


Things I hated about the movie

- Why on earth Travolta had to die?
Except for that one scene in which Bruce Willis kills Travolta, I enjoyed every moment of the movie!


Some of the memorable dialogues

Vincent (Travolta): Jules, did you ever hear the philosophy that once a man admits that he's wrong that he is immediately forgiven for all wrongdoings? Have you ever heard that?

Butch(Willis): [beating up Wallace (Rhames)] You feel that sting, big boy, huh? That's pride F***' with you! You gotta fight through that s***!

Wallace (Rhames): Yeah, we cool. Two things. Don't tell nobody about this. This s*** is between me, you, and Mr. Soon-To-Be-Living-The-Rest-of-His-Short-***-Life-In-Agonizing-Pain Rapist here. It ain't nobody else's business.

Wallace (Rhames): You leave town tonight, right now. And when you're gone, you stay gone, or you be gone. You lost all your L.A. privileges. Deal? [This one is a classic :D]

The Wolf(Keitel): Jimmie, lead the way. Boys, get to work.
Vincent(Travolta): A please would be nice.
The Wolf(Keitel): Come again?
Vincent(Travolta): I said a please would be nice.
The Wolf(Keitel): Get it straight buster - I'm not here to say please, I'm here to tell you what to do and if self-preservation is an instinct you possess you'd better f***ing do it and do it quick! I'm here to help - if my help's not appreciated then lotsa luck, gentlemen.


[Image Sources: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/PYR/NECA0003~Pulp-Fiction-Posters.jpg
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/061006/17191__pulp_fiction_l.jpg
http://youretime.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/pulp-fiction.jpg]

5 comments:

Soham Shah said...

Actually I am a great fan of psychological thriller movies like Memento, SAW , identity etc etc which can confuse you to such an extent that we used to have hour long debate on the movies after we watch them...But somehow I was not able to sit through even for 45 mins for pulp fiction...I dont know why??..I just found it too boring and meaningless..May be I could not understand it...After reading ur post, I might give it a try...But i m no fan of Trovolta or Bruce Willis so i ll hv to toil myself to watch the movie again...

Gandalf said...

Well I don't blame you for that. It is actually not a thriller movie at all. If it didn't have Travolta or Jackson or Willis, I wouldn't have even watched it, leave aside liking it. But as I said, I am a huge fan of Johnny. So ..

And yeah, talk about Memento! Too good movie.. I remember spending hours discussing that movie with friends :)

Soham Shah said...

Memento proved that hollywood, at point of time, is leap ahead than bollywood whether u talk about direction, editing, acting or photography!!..A master piece..

I think Aamir's next film Gajini is inspired from memento..In which Aamir suffers from Short-term memory loss..Lets see how it does!!

Priyanka said...

now someone has been posting religiously :P. well i just loved the non sequential bit in the movie and yeh the thurman travolta dance :)

Gandalf said...

@Pri
Well not religiously but regularly is a more fitting word ;) And if you like non-sequential direction, go for Memento if you haven't.