Pulp Fiction (1994)

"Now I'm thinkin', it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could be you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd."

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Studio: Miramax Films
Genre: Crime Drama
Country of Release: United States
Year of Release: 1994

Quentin Tarantino's magnum opus, I easily can say that I don't believe the man will ever make another movie this good ever again. That's okay though when your best film is this good. Pulp Fiction contains easily some of the wittiest, most natural, best delivered dialogue I've ever heard in a movie ever. Rather hard to define by genre though given that it has elements of film noir (and by extension, neo-noir), black comedy, and an almost independent film like production and direction quality (I mean this in a very positive way) even though it's a major studio picture.

It's highly referential to pop culture and gritty but that makes it all the more believable and really is a huge part of why this film is so great. It's ultra-violent, ultra-cynical, and immensely enjoyable even if it is rather self-indulgent in a sense. That's the thing about Tarantino's films though, they're the pinnacle of cinema as entertainment even if they're not exactly typically the highest when it comes to artistic or philosophical merit (though they do contain more than many detractors give them credit for).

The anachronistic narrative is something that Quentin Tarantino has become largely known for and Pulp Fiction shows us how well such a narrative style can be used, the intersecting and diverging lives of all these characters that he introduces us to never really becomes boring to watch and it manages to keep us entertained for the entire movie which runs a bit longer (Slightly over 2 and a half hours long) than I usually like most of my movies to. The characters, acting, and plot are all solid enough to have kept my interest the entire time though and the running time becomes not that big a deal due to the level of immersion the film gives off to its audience.


A soundtrack crafted that fits the tone of the film and at the same time helps to establish and give it the nature of films from the period that it is largely a tribute to. Not much to say really as most already either love or hate this film and I now firmly can understand why the faithful stand so strongly by it. It's a loving referential piece that has no problems telling you where it came from and who inspired it but at the same time, it stands remarkably on its own and is just as well-crafted as the sort of films that inspired it in the first place.

Also, Samuel L Jackson's best performance ever in my opinion and Uma Thurman was REALLY hot in this movie like so hot I can forgive how stupid she looked in Batman & Robin and how dull she was in Kill Bill. And that in itself is a testament to Pulp Fiction.

Rating: 9.5/10