Pulp Fiction: Collector`s Edition (2 Disc Set) (UK)

Region 1 DVD Review:

Is Pulp Fiction the best film to come out of the 1990`s? I personally doubt it, but then again, hey... it just might be. See, just like most things in film, that point can be debated and debated. But let that be a point debated elsewhere. A debate not worth having is whether Pulp Fiction is the most influential film released in the last ten years. That answer is undoubtedly: yes. And its writer/director, Quentin Tarantino, just happens to be the most influential filmmaker of the last decade. Work that one out.

Structured as three distinct stories with a common through-line tying them together, the magic of Pulp Fiction is in the characterizations and dialogue rather than the stories themselves. In fact, the stories are pretty much standard B-movie fare. What Tarantino does is inject so much life into these tried and true stories, that he makes them end up feeling brand new and wholly original. It is pretty incredible how he grabs us as an audience and walks us through his world like an eager fan wanting to show off a new toy or comic book collection.

The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and looks really good. Tarantino films tend to be gritty and grainy, and that comes through here. Blacks show the grain, but are solid and show no signs of digital artifacting whatsoever. What we get is a very clean picture with nice color, wonderful skin tone and an overall pleasing presentation. Sound is kick ass as well. If you don`t have DTS, you`ll want it for this film. The soundtrack is presented in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1. Both are good, but the DTS wins with its very wide, very natural soundfield (one note - the menus indicate DTS 5.1 and simply Dolby Digital Surround Sound - the Dolby is true 5.1). All in all, the video and audio quality provides a great ride. I really enjoyed watching and listening to this film on DVD.

Those of you familiar with the previous release of the film on DVD, never fear, this edition gets the job done so much better. Miramax took the film, the original special edition VHS with the deleted scenes and intros and the Criterion edition laserdisc and just mashed them together into a delicious special edition DVD pie that everyone should run right out and buy the minute it hits store shelves. It`s just that cool.

You`ve all seen Fiction and if you haven`t, then I have no idea why you`re reading this review. Go watch the fookin` movie.

There`s a lot of stuff on this DVD. A lot of stuff. And it`s all good, and it all serves the film. I can`t think of any one thing this disc is missing and that`s a great thing. This is a DVD set I fully endorse all of you to go out and purchase. And if you have the original edition on DVD.... I`m sure you`ll think of something.

1994`s Pulp Fiction was Quentin Tarantino`s second film after Reservoir Dogs. It is also arguably his best film and one of the best films of the 1990s.

When Buena Vista first released this on DVD, it was a flipper disc with no extras. This time round, Pulp Fiction has been given the treatment it deserves.

Picture quality is excellent throughout. The sound is also very good.

Extras include a 30 minute documentary Tarantino Fiction, deleted scenes, production design featurette, behind the scenes montage, Siskel & Ebert At The Movies, coverage of the Cannes film festival and Independent Spirit awards, a 55 minute interview on the Charlie Rose show, a stills gallery and Trailers. The best extras are Tarantino Fiction, deleted scenes and the Charlie Rose interview. All the extras, especially the aforementioned, reveal interesting insights into the production of this film.

Overall, a cult classic which has finally been given the Special Edition treatment it deserves.

Feature- Arguably, Pulp Fiction is consider to be Quentin Tarantino`s best film and he only made one film right up to the point (he made his directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs). Released in 1994 to a generally positive reception and a moderate box office success in the US. Since it`s release, Pulp Fiction is often cited as the film that spawned a million clones, namely the Tarantino-esque dialogue and the black suits featured so extensively. His previous film was not a big hit in his native US but in the UK, the reception is astounding. Just about every aspiring film maker wanted to be like Quentin Tarantino by making their films in the same vein as him, black suits, weird dialogue and references to films that we west has never heard of. It was unsurprising that when Pulp Fiction made it the UK, those who loved it have consistently ranked this film as their top 10 if not, the creme de la creme.

It ranked no.7 in Empire`s Top 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time 2004 and In 2006, the very same magazine ranked it 8. It`s over a decade since it was released and it still has lost none of it`s charm.

Pulp Fiction consists of 4 (funny, tragic and shocking) interconnected stories, two hitmen named Jules and Vincent and their crime boss, Marsellus, his wife Mia, a boxer and two young crooks (one of whom is British). The stories are nicely narrated and are told in non-chronological order, a trademark of Quentin Tarantino who uses it in his later films as well. Because of the it`s not like your A to Z typical Hollywood movie you must keep focused (and be cool) of the storyline or be confused. As the movie progresses, the whole plot starts to glue together like a puzzle piece and by the end of the film there`s a funny climax. I`m not going to spoil what happens there.

Although it`s praised by many critics and a lot of us public, the movie gets criticised by many nutters such as parents who condemns the movie as graphically violent and racist (Samuel L. Jackson does use a few N-words for instance). I can tell you, there`s relatively little on screen violence in this film. A lot of the (not so graphic) violence is implied and told by dialogue which makes the film a hell lot more violent than it really does according to some people. There is a particular scene which shows a brief shot of a person getting his brains splattered. If you don`t like racial slurs or violence, then this is not for you. I`ve always wanted to see this movie and I`ve managed to get this cult movie by getting the CE.

Video- The previous release was presented in non-anamorphic widescreen with washed out colours, no definition and blurry image. This 2 disc CE treatment has given a great film justice. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the colours are vibrant and well defined. While the video quality is not entirely faultless, there are some to occasional instances of specks in the film but you should be focusing on the film and not the picture itself. A generally sastisfying transfer. I`ve read from some sources that there are signs of "haloing" in some scenes when viewing this on a larger tv. This is not noticable on causal viewing but I`ll leave it at that.

UPDATE- This haloing problem is confirmed. I`ve watched the film again using WinDVD with (the zoom in feature) and in the scene where Jules phones Marsellus, you can see a white trail above Marsellus`s head. Another noticible scene is the prologue with Honey Bunny and Pumpkin talking about robbing liquor stores. This is not noticible in casual viewing but if you really look closely, you can see signs of haloing. The video may look improved but it gets some-what blurry and noticeable if used on a projector. The marks for video quality loses a mark.

Sound- Present in DD 5.1 and DTS. Although a heavy dialogue film, there is good use on all of the speakers with ambient noise or gun fire and it doesn`t sound hollow at all. The retrospective 70`s soundtrack suits the mood of the film perfectly. From the fast paced Miserlou to the slow Surf Rider. An excellent eclectic soundtrack. Tarantino has made a good choice of music and places them in appropiate or inappropiate scenes :D. Overall, a nice but subtle mix.

Note: Put up the volume really LOUD when Vincent opens the briefcase. Nice.

Extras- The previous had nothing, just a trailer. By contrast, the 2 disc CE has lots of extras. You get a trivia track on the 1st disc. This is fairly interesting and gives useful trivia about the film. Many will be disappointed because there is no Tarantino commentary, which probably would be the selling point of the DVD. There is also a DVD sneek peak for QT`s other film, Jackie Brown. It pales in comparison to QT`s last 2 films but I think it is better than some of the crap churned out today. It is recommended to buy the 2 disc DVD of that film.

On the 2nd disc, you get 4 deleted scenes with QT introducing each one and his choices for removing them. Lance`s Monologue, Mia interviews Vincent, Elsmerada cab scene and Monter`s Joe Truck `N Tow. They are presented in 2.35:1 letterbox and of acceptable quality. An extended JackRabbit Slim`s scene is also included. Again, in letterbox format. They add some value and I can see why QT removed from the final version. All the deleted scenes clock in at 24 mins.

The 1st deleted shows extra dialogue by Lance after Vince is some what ticked off about his car getting keyed by someone. Before Lance gives Vince his heroin, the formers gives a lengthy piece of dialogue, Lance tells Vince about someone giving him wrong directions on purpose. It drags the whole movie to a complete stop but it`s quite fun to hear what Lance has to say about why his own people has to do such things.

The 2nd deleted scene shows Mia holding a camcorder at Vincent and asking him some questions. She continues asks whether he`s a Beatles person or an Elvis person and in according to her, a Beatles person should like Elvis and vice versa but not both at the same time. It`s somewhat unecessary scene and slows down the entire picture.

The 3rd scene is Elsmerada cab scene which speaks for itself. This is an extention of a scene I found rather boring and this version makes it even more boring. At least in the final cut, it is roughly half as much (might be more).

The 4th scene is Monster`s Joe Truck `N Tow. There, Winston Wolf has a chit chat with the guy Monster Joe himself (who owns the place).

In this decent package, you get "Tarantino Fiction" - Original Documentary. A bit short but fairly straightfoward documentary. This lasts for 30 mins. Interview from QT himself and many others. Nothing geniunely insightful, just another EPK style featurette.

The biggest meat of the extras is the Charlie Rose show with QT at the interviewee chair. This is an hour long and is broadcasted at the time of the films release. Here, QT is interviewed by Charlie Rose (obviously) and QT rants on about Pulp Fiction and other aspects of the film. Fairly interesting as is most interviews conducted by Charlie Rose.

Production featurette is short and not really worth looking. It lasts for 6 mins.

Following this, there is a segment of Siskel & Ebert "At The Movies" "The Tarantino Generation" and this clocks in at 15 minutes. Not worth looking at since we all know Pulp Fiction is an exceptional fo;, and it has a lot of footage from the film integrated with them debating over the film`s artistic merit. There is coverage from the Independent Spirit Awards with Michael Moore (famous documentarian film maker) interviewing Quentin.

There is also footage of Quentin accepting the highest accolade at the Cannes film festival. QT infamously flips the bird at someone who heckled him after claiming the Palme D`or prize.

There are 2 behind the scenes montages(Jackrabbit Silm`s and Butch run`s over Marsellus), where QT brings his own camera and runs about the set etc. It`s quite hilarious when QT talks to Bruce Willis and calls his producer an "asshole".

The package is finished with several stills gallery from Props to poster and trailers from different countries, all presented in letterbox format.

My only problem with the extra is why no retrospective documentary with the cast and crew of today?

Overall- One of the best films of the 90`s in not the best films of the 90`s and QT`s finest hour (Finest is probably an understatement. Exceptional is probably the correct word for this). Pulp Fiction is a film glued with it`s eclectic soundtracks, idiosyncratic dialogue and characters as well as the nice homage of the crime novels of the same name. It is a tour-de-force film. It is praised by many critics for that reason but condemned by parents for it`s violence. This film is not one that can be thrown out the window like that or discarded in the bin. Rack yourself a Big Kahuna burger and enjoy! And while your at it, grab a red apple from the shops. :D