Movie Reviews: Pulp Fiction

As I popped in my newly bought VHS (from the Internet) into the VCR, I began to wonder to myself what will this movie be like? The title of the movie, Pulp Fiction, was boldly written in a stylish, canary yellow font and featured a brunette Uma Thurman posing on the front. I tentatively looked at the cardboard cover of this movie to discover some more clues about this enigmatic film.

I read and heard many positive reviews about this movie, and I had to watch it for myself to see what the big hype was all about. The director of Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino, was instantly praised for his creative and ingenious artistic interpretation of this movie. I impatiently fast-forwarded through the previews at the beginning in anticipation of the special feature to finally play. The moment finally arrived, my adrenaline was in high gear and my pulse began to race. The screen went black and the picture abruptly popped in showing a British couple in a sit down diner. The dialogue being exchanged between this lovey-dovey couple was about the risks and dangers of robbing a bank. In an act of impulsive behavior, the husband and wife (each holding up a gun) leaped out of their seats and held up the diner. The scene froze still on my TV screen for about three seconds, but it felt like forever. It was at that exact moment I, the viewer, was left to reflect about this scene. I began to realize that predictability went out the window and the rug had been pulled from beneath me. I was sucked into a world in which I was prepared to watch a masterpiece that would change the way I would see movies forever.

The screen went black and the music kicked in. The song that was playing in the background was “Miserlou” by Dick Dale while the title of the movie slowly began to fill up the screen. I had heard this song every now and then in numerous movies and TV commercials, but this was the first time that “Miserlou” actually complemented a movie. The anthem got my excitement going and my mind began to race. The energetic beats and sounds of the guitar, trumpets, drums, and the distant echo of man’s voice in the background had a “surfer” feeling to it. This was the song that “Wipe Out” wished it could have been.

During the credits, the music abruptly switched (by the use of a radio tuner) to another song called “Jungle Boogie”, by Kool and the Gang. The scene showed two hit men in a car driving to a certain location to collect an unsettled debt from one of their boss’s clients. John Travolta (most known for his role in Grease) played Vincent Vega, a hit man who just returned from Amsterdam to work for his boss, Marcellus Wallace. Travolta’s partner in crime, Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), plays the role of a hit man who sees the evil in his ways after a miraculous near-death experience. After the hit men’s unnerving confrontation with the clients was over, Jules begins to contemplate his purpose for living and questions his current and corrupt profession.

The dialogue that is said among these characters is very down-to-earth and realistic. There is one particular scene in this movie in which Vincent Vega explains to Jules that in France, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese at MacDonald’s is called a “Royale with Cheese”. In most movies, it is often a major cliché for the characters to just talk about the major details of the plot. Pulp Fiction gave me a glimpse of what human beings actually talk about in real life and it gave a sense of practicality as I was watching it.

Quentin Tarantino’s use of dark humor in this movie had me laughing at situations in which I would not normally find to be funny. He shows a warped, twisted, and humorous side to violence in which most viewers would not laugh about in real life. Pulp Fiction contains several graphic moments which includes a scene in which Uma Thurman’s character is revived with an adrenaline shot in the heart as a result from a near fatal drug overdose. The suspense that lead up to this unsettling moment (through the ingenious use of editing) put me at the edge of my seat and created tension right up to the second as they were counting down to this foreseeable action.
There is more to this movie than what is actually being presented to us. The movie is creatively set up in which the story unfolds out of sequence, but it is often more appreciated after multiple viewings. All the characters in this movie are closely linked together and eventually as the movie progressed, I understood the connections. The overall premise of Pulp Fiction is redemption and there were many scenes in which the movie expressed this theme. This particular attribute conveyed that the characters in Pulp Fiction were real people with conscious thoughts and feelings.

This film was so simple, yet complex; it was realistic, but fictional. There was more to this movie than just vulgar language and gratuitous violence. Underneath the harsh and gritty facade contained a cleverly written script and a powerful cast of stars. Quentin Tarantino had full control my feelings as he put me on a roller coaster ride of anticipation.