Date: 1994
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Actors/ Characters: Tim Roth / Pumpkin / Ringo, Amanda Plummer/ Honey Bunny / Yolanda, John Travolta/ Vincent Vega, Samuel L. Jackson/ Jules Winnfield, Bruce Willis/ Butch Coolidge, Ving Rhames / Marsellus Wallace , Uma Thurman/ Mia Wallace
Summary: The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
Review
This film was on my to-watch list for such a long time and it had a lot to live up to. Being on the IMDB's top ten film list and having really good reviews from so many people I know Pulp Fiction was a film I expected great things from. Indeed this film was excellent.
One of my favourite traits of Tarantino is his ability to create insane amounts of tension and suspense in such ordinary scenes. His sequences are dragged out in a way that tells the audience something epic is going to happen at the end of it we just don't know what. The opening scene in the diner was a brilliant way to set the film up as it rendered violence ( a prominent act throughout the film and Tarantino films in general ) totally mundane and ordinary and placed the audience straight into the minds of the characters and made us desensitised to crime and gore like them.
Perhaps one of the best scenes for creating tension within the film for me was the gangster scene with Vincent and Jules. In the first chapter of the film we see the two men driving and talking about burgers- this was something I loved about the film. Tarantino manages to merge ordinary activities like two friends having a discussion about food with violence and murder. The contrast between seeing them in the car to when they arrive at the apartment building was brilliant. That sequence again was stretched out for about ten-fifteen minutes and I was just waiting for something to happen, of course the scene ended with Vincent and Jules shooting everyone until they were dead. What was most impressive is that fact that even though these characters commit unspeakable acts having snippets of humanity integrated in each character (e.g. Jules and Vincent talking about burgers or Mia's love of the retro diner ) make them likeable regardless.
I really loved Mia and Vincent's part of the film. Watching these two actors together was highly enjoyable for me and their chemistry on screen was excellent. The diner scene was really fun to watch again I loved how ordinary this scene was as two characters simply went out to dinner and danced. But then when Mia and Vincent get back to the house Mia overdoses and things got crazy. I was so on edge for this entire sequence as it was so unexpected and I loved every second of it.
My least favourite chapter of the film was 'The Gold Watch. I felt that we had spent the whole first part getting acquainted with Jules, Mia, Vincent and others that when Butch becomes our focus character I was just confused. I think this film wouldn't be better without the second chapter as I felt it was sort of irrelevant. True the film has no real plot anyway but changing the protagonist and central storyline mid way through only to change it back at the end doesn't make sense to me.
My favourite character of the film was without a doubt Mr Wolf. He was just so cool and relaxed I found the entire sequence with him hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing. He was a brilliant character and so different to anyone I've seen before.
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