4K UHD Blu-ray Review: Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction on Paramount Home Entertainment

Quentin Tarantino’s generation-defining classic receives a sterling, detail-rich 4K transfer.

Pulp FictionAs the casting for Django Unchained solidified and early rumblings of controversy began to be felt over the film’s expectedly outlandish subject matter, the question of what, exactly, Quentin Tarantino is after arose once again. Similar questions came about in the press upon the release of his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, which more than a few were quick to name the Tennessee-born Tarantino’s masterpiece while others laughably deemed it a theoretical form of Holocaust denial.

Such controversial reactions are commonplace in Tarantino’s career, beginning with the torture scene and the use of the n-word in Reservoir Dogs, sparking an over-reported spat with Spike Lee. These minor infractions, however, seemed to become scorched earth in the wake of the overwhelming success of Pulp Fiction, which is arguably the most influential film of the 1990s. A rapturous, endlessly inventive, and deeply hilarious embrace of immorality, Pulp Fiction dropped racial slurs freely, was powered by curse words, and set out to do nothing less than make an afro-sporting hitman’s batshit spiritual awakening just as moving, if not more so, than Forrest Gump’s tearful speech at Jenny’s grave.

And what’s more, it succeeded. When we first meet Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), he’s discussing a recent trip to Amsterdam, with its hash bars and beer-serving movie theaters, taken by his partner, Vincent (John Travolta). The talk is riveting, witty, and wildly funny, but restrained when considering future conversations about gimps, proper clean-up after blowing a man’s head off, and the links between foot massages and “sticking your tongue in the holiest of holies.”

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This is, of course, matched by Tarantino’s energized sense of movement and framing, helped immeasurably by cinematographer Andrzej Sekula and editor Sally Menke. Jules and Vincent are the film’s central figures, but the brilliant nonlinear trajectory of the story strays from them, finding interest in their boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), his wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), a scheming boxer named Butch (Bruce Willis), a pair of lovebird stick-up artists (Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth), a sadistic security officer (Peter Greene), the Wolf (a scene-stealing Harvey Keitel), and a dope-dealing suburban couple (Eric Stoltz and Rosanna Arquette).

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Every sequence is a classic, defined by a studied yet sensationally unpredictable trajectory. How Butch comes to be forgiven by Marsellus after botching a fixed boxing match is perhaps the most memorable, but consider all the mannerisms and subtle symbolism of Vincent’s night out with Mia. Yes, the dance sequence is still one for the ages, as is the adrenaline-shot-to-the-heart scene, but even more so, Vincent’s doped-up wandering through Mia’s living room, to the soulful bop of Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man,” speaks volumes not only to the freedom of Tarantino’s narrative, but to Travolta’s oft-questioned talents as a performer. With the possible exception of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, there has rarely been such a balanced, honest portrayal of the pleasures and dangers of hard drugs in cinema.

It goes without saying that the film’s use of music is phenomenal, but it’s put to use so skillfully in scenes like the one where Vincent takes drugs, set to the Centurians’s “Bullwinkle Part II,” that Tarantino’s ridiculed status as a vinyl junkie seems even more inane than the publicized caricature of the filmmaker. It has, unbelievably, become an even more popular practice to belittle Tarantino’s reference-heavy style, which seems to be a way of disregarding the director as an artist and chalk him up as more of a facilitator of high-end trash. Such arguments are painfully tedious and seem to completely ignore the fact that the best American directors worked, often solely, in the B-movie mode, but thankfully, in this case, there’s very little need to argue for Pulp Fiction’s merits, for they have survived and continued to flourish with age.

Image/Sound

As was the case with Lionsgate’s recent reissue of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction receives a striking transfer from Paramount whose exceptional depth of field and textural clarity captures filmic attributes better than any previous video release of the film. Exteriors have an added glow to them, while close-ups reveal the most minute details in the frame. Costumes leap off the screen with complexity, while the darker sequences reveal a newfound level of clarity, most significantly the ones set inside the pawnshop’s basement. The 5.1 soundtrack from the 2011 Blu-ray release is recycled here, and with good reason, as it boasts a strong, enveloping mix, with clear separation of audio elements and creative use of channels.

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Extras

This release ports over all the extras from the 2011 Blu-ray. There are three sizable and informative featurettes, the longest of which includes interviews with the cast and crew, while the shortest of the bunch features a panel of critics discussing the film’s impact. There are a few solid deleted scenes that are at once entertaining and understandably not in the finished project. Also included are episodes of At the Movies and The Charlie Rose Show focused around Quentin Tarantino, as well as footage of the filmmaker’s Cannes and Independent Spirit Awards speeches. The shorter featurettes on the production design and between-scenes banter are interesting and highlight the excited atmosphere of the film’s production. A stills gallery, enhanced trivia track, and a deluge of trailers and TV spots are also included.

Overall

Quentin Tarantino’s generation-defining classic receives a sterling, detail-rich 4K transfer.

Score: 
 Cast: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Ving Rhames, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Eric Stoltz, Peter Greene  Director: Quentin Tarantino  Screenwriter: Quentin Tarantino  Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment  Running Time: 154 min  Rating: R  Year: 1994  Release Date: December 6, 2022  Buy: Video, Soundtrack

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