DVD REVIEW
FIRST PUBLISHED Aug 16, 2002
FIRST PUBLISHED Aug 16, 2002
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Primary Review by Dean Winkelspecht:
Quentin Tarantino struck a chord with the critics with his independent film, "Reservoir Dogs." It was the talk of Sundance and though it was expected to clean up on the Festival´s awards, it failed to do so and left empty-handed. It also failed to make much of a dent in the pockets of American moviegoers. The film did, however, put Tarantino on the map and after a successful video run of "Reservoir Dogs," the world was waiting for his next project, "Pulp Fiction." "Pulp Fiction" would not disappoint. It would find critical acclaim for the director and its stars. Samuel L. Jackson found his stardom and John Travolta´s career was reinvigorated. Mirimax found itself a bonafide hit and became established as being more than an independent film house.
"Pulp Fiction" has become one of my absolute favorite films of all time. I don´t know how many times I have watched it, but it´s a lot. Sadly, I never watched the film in a theater and fell prey to the general attitude of "you either love it or hate it" of those that have seen it, as most of those I knew absolutely hated it. "Pulp Fiction" is not an easy film to watch. The content is violent, vulgar and non-linear. If cursing offends or the last thing you want to ever see is a couple or rednecks anally raping Ving Rhames, then "Pulp Fiction" is certainly not a film you would want to watch. It is raw and it is honest. Its depiction of the dregs of society does not rely on action to thrill; it relies on pure dialogue and the performance of the actors. Not many people would go see a film if you told them it was about a few bad guys standing around and cursing and that the scenes were in no particular order. I had no interest in seeing the film based upon the word-of-mouth I received from a few friends that had seen it.
Hollywood and many a young filmmaker received their wake-up call with "Pulp Fiction." Tarantino´s picture has influenced an entire generation of filmmakers and the benefit of this is that more and more pictures rely on dialogue and acting to carry their film than a few action scenes and sticking to the tried-and-true formulas that Hollywood had relied on for decades. Guy Ritchie ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," "Snatch"), Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects"), John Herzfeld ("2 Days In The Valley") and countless others have shown the influences of "Pulp Fiction" in their pictures. Before Tarantino, it was uncommon for the pure profanity and violence depicted in "Pulp Fiction" to be both entertaining and captivating. Filmmakers were leery of dropping the F-Bomb every few seconds and romanticizing drug use and rape was completely out of the question. "Pulp Fiction" brought a welcome revolution to filmmaking.
The storyline for "Pulp Fiction" is made more complex than it actually is because of the non-linear structure of the film. The film is comprised of three separate storylines that weave into one complete tale of mayhem. Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) are two small time crooks that want to hold up a coffee shop because they are tired of the risks of robbing convenience stores and gas stations. Though they are featured in the beginning of the film, the timeline finds their moment on screen as the middle part of the story, but the ending of the film.
A second plotline involves Vince Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) as two hitmen who are sent by their boss to wrap up some business that had gone bad. After murdering Brett (Frank Whaley) and those they are sent to ´take care of,´ they accidentally kill the inside man Marvin (Phil LeMar) and need the assistance of Jimmie (Quentin Tarantino) and Winston (Harvey Keitel) to clean up the mess they have created. This sequence finds Jackson delivering one of the most memorable quotes in Hollywood history and weaves its way into the Honey Bunny and Pumpkin storyline.
The final major component of "Pulp Fiction" has Bruce Willis portraying a washed-up boxer named Butch Coolidge. He has made a deal with Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) to fix a match, but double crosses Wallace and must flee for his life from the gangster. The problem for Butch is that he needs his father´s watch that was left to him by Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) and must risk being found by Wallace and his cronies to retrieve the watch from his apartment, after Bruce´s girlfriend forgets to get the watch off a kangaroo near the bed. Walken´s speech is one that is so peculiar and his delivery insures this sequence will not be forgotten in a very long time.
Tarantino may confuse some by jumping back and forth in the timeline to tell the story. Had the film been edited to play in a linear manner, the opening scene would find Jules and Vincent discussing burgers in Amsterdam and the film would end with Butch Coolidge riding off into the sunset on Zed´s chopper. It would still be a great film, but the manner in which Tarantino tells his story makes for an incredible experience that keeps the viewer entangled in the story from the opening sequence to the final roll of the credits. The first time this picture is watched it can leave viewers confused and uncertain as to what is going on. It also provides a film that can be discussed over and over among those that have seen it and debated as to whether or not it was liked and the reasons for each individual´s opinion.
I am very biased in my opinion of "Pulp Fiction." I hold the film in the highest regard and unless you cannot stomach bad language or blood, there is absolutely no way I would not recommend this picture to you. If you have not seen "Pulp Fiction," you are missing out on one of the most influential, inventive and entertaining pictures released over the past twenty years. It is hard to believe that "Pulp Fiction" is nearly ten years old, and that Quentin Tarantino has only made "Jackie Brown" since. The man is very talented and perhaps the best there is when it comes to delivering an unforgettable dialogue-laced and character-based film like "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs." This is a great film and I hope there is more coming from the man responsible.
Video :
Buena Vista has conjured up a new transfer for "Pulp Fiction." This release marks the first time that the film is available in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Neither the previous Buena Vista nor Alliance DVDs were anamorphic. Picture quality has been improved over the previous releases, but an entirely new batch of problems is encountered. Edge enhancement halos are much more prevalent than they previously were in the non-anamorphic transfers. Secondly, the bit-rate is lower on this DVD than the previous and this may have to do with the amount of compression required to bring the entire anamorphic widescreen image of this 154-minute picture to DVD. No compression errors were found, but the image looks a marginally softer in some scenes than the previous DVD. Colors and black level have both improved and overall, this is a very nice transfer that does "Pulp Fiction" and the wonderful world Tarantino has created a great deal of justice.
Audio:
I was quite pleased to see that Buena Vista had supplied a DTS 5.1 track to coincide with the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. The Dolby Digital mix did not sound too different from the previous DVD. In a previous review I had done on "Pulp Fiction," I had noted that the DVDs did not have nearly as good of bass response that the Criterion LaserDisc possessed, this seems to have improved some within the Dolby Digital mix and suggests that they did at least some amount of tinkering with the DD mix. The Dolby Digital track is good and does exhibit solid usage of all channels. Ambient sound and bass are good and the dialogue that powers the film is crystal clear. The wonderful soundtrack of the film sounds incredible. It is a worthwhile listening experience.
Did I mention this DVD contained a DTS mix? This DVD is one of those examples where the DTS track is noticeably superior to the Dolby Digital Mix. Everything about the DTS soundtrack is better. During the Jack Rabbit Slims and Diner sequences, ambient sounds are greatly enhanced and more prevalent. The .1 LFE channel´s bass is tighter and deeper and this disc now surpasses the Criterion LaserDisc´s deep thumping bass. The songs of "Pulp Fiction" spring to life with more life than they ever have. Dialogue is perfectly clear in both versions and though no improvement is noticeable over the Dolby Digital mix in regards to the spoken word, the rest of the mix is enough of an improvement that if your equipment supports DTS, your choice of sound is easy.
Extras:
Finally, consumers in the United States can easily obtain a DVD with some true value added content. The Alliance DVD release (Canadian) contained delete scenes that were carried over from the VHS Special Edition and Criterion LaserDiscs. The first DVD release from Buena Vista was downright shameful. Well, thanks to some friendly work between Buena Vista and Criterion, the supplements from the LaserDisc are contained on this 2-disc Collector´s Edition. A great deal of new material has been added as well. Tarantino has provided some new materials for the special editions of all three of his films, but the director is famous for his dislike of commentary tracks and no commentaries are provided here. However, the rest of the supplements stand up nicely and the lack of a Quentin Tarantino voiced commentary is not that big of a deal.
While most of the supplements are contained on the second DVD, there are a couple of supplements on the first disc, as well as one significant, notable one. The notable supplement is the Enhanced Trivia Track that takes a page from New Line´s Inifinifilm series. This feature is essentially a subtitle track that emblazons the screen with information relating to the scene or general information on the picture. It is a visual commentary of miscellaneous information. It may lack the warmth and humor that a human commentary provides, but these subtitled commentary tracks tend to be more informative.
The first disc also contains Soundtrack Chapter Stops which lets you jump to the moment in the film where the various songs from the films soundtrack are contained. This is nice, but if you really want to enjoy the music, you should purchase the CD. Two advertisements are available for viewing pleasure under Sneak Peaks. A trailer for the "Jackie Brown: Collectors Edition" DVD and an one for the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack are found here. For those with a DVD-ROM equipped PC, a Screenplay Viewer allows you to view the screenplay and jump to a scene in the film. I do enjoy when screenplays are provided on the DVD-ROM, but I cannot bring myself to watch an entire film on a personal computer.
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[release]10516[/release]