Hmm. I want to do one of those graphs that you can occasionally find in movie magazines that track your interest during the course of the film: an excellently dramatic, verging on the profound, opening chapter, then a disconcertingly zig-zagging subsequent experience as it lurched from pathos to pathetic cartoonery, via pointless bloodthirstiness, until it abandoned all pretence at being a serious film at the conclusion. Still, I guess that was Tarantino’s intention, he’s still basically a geek playing with his new Millenium Falcon. Thing is, I caught a discussion of his on ‘There Will Be Blood’ the other night, and how Paul Anderson had made him try to raise his game. Despite the film’s last line, he’s failed on that score; the first scene above all shows that he has the technique mastered, what’s missing is something else, perhaps something more soulful. He’s managed it with some films (Pulp Fiction has it) but he seems to be making more misses than hits these days.
Oh, should have said: some excellent acting in it, and memorable characters.
3.5/5