Pulp Fiction Blu-Ray Review

It’s finally here! Quentin Tarantino‘s cult classic Pulp Fiction has landed on Blu-Ray! Pulp Fiction is probably one of the most influential and most quotable films of all time. The film hit theaters in 1994 and it instantly became a staple of American cinema. Over the next decade tons of directors tried replicating Tarantino’s clever dialogue and storytelling, but none were able match it. Pulp Fiction is full of violence, witty but interesting dialogue, pop culture references and a game changing story that fits together in the weirdest, most hilariously uncomfortable way!

Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) are two hit men who work under Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). The opening of the film involves them doing a certain job for Mr. Wallace and the ending of the specific scene goes down various paths. In no specific order we follow Vincent and Jules as they run into a messy situation and attempt to clean it up with the help of The Wolf (Harvey Keitel).

Then we jump to Vincent taking out Mr. Wallace’s wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), which starts out ordinary and ends in everything but. Five dollar shakes, drug overdoses and cheesy pilot jokes follow as Vincent and Mia are given a night that they will surely never speak of and never forget.

Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is a boxer nearing the end of his game. He still has a few fights left, but money is becoming a problem that Mr. Wallace can hopefully fix. Butch has agreed to lose a fixed fight and take a hefty payout, but pride takes over at the last minute and he wins the fight by killing his opponent and decides to leave town with his cute little girlfriend in a hurry. Of course he can’t leave town without his father’s trusty watch. The importance of this watch is described in nasty like detail by Captain Koons (Christopher Walken). Butch attempts to get his watch, runs into loads of trouble and almost gets raped by two gentlemen with a gimp!

To top it all off we have Ringo (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer), two small time robbers looking to score big by hitting up a coffee shop. It’s not a Tarantino movie without situations like this that not only don’t go according to plan, but manage to go in the totally opposite direction with other characters cleverly weaved into the equation.

At this point, what more can I really say about Pulp Fiction? It’s already a bonafide classic and deservedly so. It’s full of colorful characters that all cross paths at one point or another, extremely hilarious and sometimes bloody situations, fantastic dialogue and it’s just as relevant today as it was when it was released! With Pulp Fiction, Tarantino has made a cult classic that is easily one of the most important pieces of cinema.

Pulp Fiction comes to Blu-Ray with a director supervised 1080p transfer. The transfer is clear and detailed, but not the prettiest. It’s an accurate transfer for sure, but it just doesn’t pop as much as you’d think it would. Black levels are fine and color saturation isn’t a problem, but the age of the film is noticeable.

Lionsgate goes all out with the 5.1 DTS-HD audio track for Pulp Fiction. Sound cues and other effects are evenly distributed throughout the channels with the spot on dialogue never becoming a problem to hear. The track is very well balanced throughout and a real treat to listen to after being stuck with the lacking DVD all these years.

Pulp Fiction comes loaded with over 6 hours of bonus features, mostly presented in SD, with a few in HD. Fans are going to have a blast sitting down and checking all of these out. Most of the features with Tarantino are great; he’s a real fun guy to listen to and he takes pride in his movie loving geekery! Check out a list of the features below.

• Not the Usual Mindless Boring Getting to Know You Chit Chat (HD)
•  Here are Some Facts on the Fiction (HD)
•  Pulp Fiction: The Facts – Documentary (SD)
•  Deleted Scenes (SD)
•  Behind the Scenes Montages (SD)
•  Production Design Featurette (SD)
•  Siskel & Ebert At the Movies: The Tarantino Generation (SD)
•  Independent Spirit Awards (SD)
•  Cannes Film Festival – Palme D’Or Acceptance Speech (SD)
•  Charlie Rose Show (SD)
•  Marketing Gallery
•  Still Gallery
•  Enhanced Trivia Track

It may have taken a while for Pulp Fiction to finally make its way to the high definition format, but the wait was well worth it. Lionsgate has taken great care of transferring Pulp Fiction to Blu-Ray and I think Tarantino might be the one to thank here because his supervised transfer really does help enhance an already perfect film. The video may not be the most attractive looking, but it’s how Tarantino wanted it, so we can’t really complain. The colors are good and the level of detail is definitley there. The audio on the other hand is very well done, with different levels of detail from gun fire to the sound of that famous Zippo lighter popping open. And then there’s the classic soundtrack, which is just as awesome as it was when we heard it back in 1994.

The disc is packaged with a hefty amount of special features that could take all day to go through. A wide variety of stuff is included like galleries, behind the scenes footage and a few pieces focused on looking back at Pulp Fiction and how big it originally was and how much it has grown over the years. Fans will definitley be pleased with the offering.

Pulp Fiction is a personal favorite of mine and of many others. Tarantino knows his characters and knows his dialogue unlike anyone else and he has a special way of blending over the top violence, comedy and awkward situations that are unmatched. This film is a classic and for good reason. All I can say is buy this one right now!