Hm. I linked the photo above without really looking at it. Samuel L without the jheri curl is blasphemy. Also, someone gave them all meth or have the zoom settings fucked up on their TV because they all look really tall and skinny.
So you guys know of my first viewing of Pulp Fiction if you read part 1 introducing my experiment. I despised it. I saw nothing good about it (Samuel L Jackson being the exception to every rule). Even then I was so overwhelmed by the other bullshit, the bad motherfucka himself couldn't save it.
After a couple of years, I had a friend who hadn't seen it. Our coach had been raving about how it was the greatest movie of all time (the third or fourth person I had met in college to do so). Since our local library was phenomenal (music and dvd selections which were better than most mainstream box stores), we swung by and checked a copy out so he could see it. I tried it again. I still didn't see it. Why the fuck did everyone love this movie?
So I decided to give this movie another shot. Not just for the experiment, because honestly? I wanted to try to see it the way everyone around me seems too. As the genius dialogue driven great story I have been told hundreds of times by disbelieving fanboys. So let's get into it. Let us see if the third time is a charm or if I've kept a watch up my ass for 5 years.
As usual in my blogs: IF ANY OF YOU PRICKS FUCKING BITCH ABOUT SPOILERS ILL EXECUTE EVERY LAST MOTHERFUCKIN ONE OF YA.
So we begin the movie in a diner with a british couple sweetly speaking over coffee. Hey look, Mr. Orange didn't die! Just kidding. Anyway, Honey Bunny and Pumpkin (their pet names for each other) discuss how every dumb fuck robs a bar, a liquor store, and they keep getting shot by crazy owners with guns but restaurants..restaurants are safe. Wait..You're telling me the place with more people, a larger area, and usually facing a street down which many, many cops are going to drive by...is a SAFER robbery? The idea that Pumpkin may not be the brightest thief is given away by Pumpkin yelling for the waitress by saying "Garcon!" and the waitress bitingly replying "garcon means boy" as she fills his coffee. Wait...let me slow down a second. Did Tarantino just use subtlety to reveal a character trait? By Jove, I think he's got it. As they both stand up, Honey Bunny yells my spoiler line slightly more in context for the movie. Ah there's the Tarantino I know.
Wait what the fuck just happened? 50's surf music? Misirlou's a great song and all, but how the fuck did that fit the moment? And why didn't we see the end of the robbery?
After credits that drag far too long we jump to a car with two guys discussing the differences between Europe and 'Murica. 90% of the time I hear this movie be quoted its from one of these two characters. Their exchanges as they prepare to go do a job for Marsellus Wallace are pretty entertaining and their actual intimidation of the kids trying to rip off the large black gangster is by far the best scene in the movie. Why? Because Samuel L Jackson screaming makes everything better. We find the briefcase, open it with the combination 666 (OOOH Edgy!!!) and see a yellow glow on Travolta's bloated face. Time to cut again!
We jump again. The sad part? Its been about 3 days and I cant remember which scene came next. Thats how often this movie jumps around. You know how I said Reservoir Dogs jumped around and it worked really well? It doesn't help this movie whatsoever. Right when you start being intrigued, the movie completely changes settings and characters. Through the wonders of internet magic, I'm cheating. We've jumped to Bruce Willis talking to someone. We find out it's Marsellus. But ok, got an idea of the schizophrenic mess this movie is? I'm going to stop following the movie piece by piece and jump to specifics I want to talk about.
Right, so lets start with what I like. I love Samuel L Jackson in this. He's the only character with any sort of redeeming qualities. But someone's steals the show from him and it was on my third try I noticed. Harvey Keitel's role as the "wolf", the head gangster's one man cleanup crew is absolutely stellar. He's smooth and in control yet you're terrified of potentially not being on the Wolf's side. That scene alone is worth watching, despite Tarantino handicapping it by being Jimmy. The only other thing I like is the various conversations throughout the movie are rather memorable.
So what I don't like? A longer list.
1) The entirety of the Bruce Willis scenes. Lets start with the back story. Bruce Willis plays Butch, a washed up boxer making a deal to lose on purpose with Marsellus Wallace. He decides to bail. Of course pissing off a gang lord in LA is never a good plan. With his strange French wife (who the fuck thinks a potbelly is sexy?), they plan to run. I see Bruce Willis Dick about 3 times. Dick shots are only good for comedy or porn. As they get ready to leave Butch starts to look for a watch. It was smuggled in Christopher Walken's ass from a POW camp in Korea. This scene is awkward and drags too long. So Butch loses his shit because his wife remembered everything but the watch. You have a choice of death, or the watch...is this really a choice? On his way out knowing full well he could die, He doesn't even fucking kiss her on the way out. So loving there Butch. He gets to his apartment, finds the watch, and notices a large gun on the counter. Good old Vince Vega is there. Taking a shit. Butch fills him with lead. Well thats anticlimactic. This badass hitman who survives all this other insanity, gets killed getting of the shitter because he didn't take his gun with him? Fucking dumb. Anyways, in the twist of fate that has to happen, Marsellus sees Butch at an intersection. Butch runs him over, and immediately gets wrecked by an on coming car. A brawl begins, they stumble into a pawn shop. This isn't your usual pawn shop. This pawn shop captures and buttfucks people in the basement. There is no other way to put it. Eventually Butch wipes the slate clean with Marsellus by putting a stop to his anal rapeage, and rides off into the sunset. I just dont see what purpose in the movie this segment is supposed to have. It's about half the movie and brings the entire thing down.
2) The Jackrabbit Slim's OD scene. Mia is obviously a party girl. I think the OD would've happened long before this. This could be because I dated a girl who was on drugs when I first saw this movie and that scene was one of my greatest fears. But anyway, I like the scene building up to the OD. But after that, I just tune out the rest.
3)I'm combining the briefcase and interconnecting stories here. Did the stories HAVE to connect? Why can't you just tell several stories without making it wrap up into a little package in the end? The odds of all of that connecting in a city like LA is so slim, it's almost more likely to not happen. With how gritty and real these types of movies try to be, these endings always bother me. The real world just doesn't work like that. My issue with the briefcase is the same. Did it really add to the movie? No, it added a mystical quality that didn't fit the gritty rest of the movie.
So final verdict? I'll admit on the third try, this movie was not as bad as I remember. But the greatest movie of all time? Not even close. Theres a few good roles. The rest of it is incoherent and just makes for a strange concoction that I just don't think works overall
I give it 5 mystical briefcases out of 10. Not the worst thing I've ever seen, but sure as shit not something I'm putting in the must-see list.
Next time, we'll hit up Jackie Brown, the first in the series I know nothing about and have no previous experience with.
Zed's Dead baby, Zed's Dead
-Oz
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