The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993)
IMDb

Date Watched: 3/13/2022
Rewatch: Yes.

Full Disclosure: With his roles in Untamed Heart, Heathers, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and this movie, Christian Slater was pretty damn hot stuff to adolescent/teenaged me and I've had a soft spot for him ever since. That I saw this movie in the theater when I was 12 certainly didn't have any negative impact on my opinion of it.

I know some other participants found Slater and Patricia Arquette's characters unlikeable, and I can kind of understand that considering the collateral damage they leave in their wake and Clarence's obsessive personality and bravado, but frankly I find them endearing. Again, I'm pretty biased towards Christian Slater - and, after all, this is my nomination - but they come off to me as dumb kids who are in way over their heads. Clarence is kind of a nerd. He spends his days watching movies and reading comics where the heroes save the day and get the girl. When he finds himself living out his fantasy, he fails to recognize the very real danger and the consequences that innocents will have to pay for what he's done. I think this makes him feel real. And yet if he actually were real I'd be right there with those who are criticizing him. But he isn't real. This whole thing is a fiction and I don't feel even a scrap of guilt watching him blaze through this world filled with crazy characters, vibrant colors, and tense violence. As for Alabama? She's mostly just eye candy for a bit (and she is pretty damn hot in this), but things turn quite in her favor during that brutal motel room scene. Mad respect to both the character and actress for that.

And of course it would be absolutely remiss to not address those crazy characters they encounter. Brad Pitt is a big standout, of course. It's almost a shame he's so good looking because he's really a gifted character actor, especially in comedic roles like this. Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Bronson Pinchot, and Gary Oldman are also great. Literally every familiar face (and wow are there a lot of them) makes an impact with their screentime regardless of how small. Even the like two seconds we get of Samuel L. Jackson is great (and definitely helps to cement the movie as more of a Tarantino flick than a Tony Scott one for me).

Now I won't deny that this film is not flawless. The Elvis scenes feel a bit silly even in a movie filled with things that are utterly ridiculous (but they're brief enough that they don't detract much) and I suppose some of the dialogue could've been cut a bit short, but it's not like this is serious drama. This is a movie with the sole purpose of entertaining its audience and it absolutely excels at it. It is one damn fun ride.

True Romance (1993) -

This film was a mixed bag for me. For one, I don't know what it was going for with the characters. Clarence and Alabama's flaws are left out in the open, it seems like you're meant to root for the two of them, and that connection just wasn't there for me. Like, Clarence's Elvis Presley hallucination in the first act screamed "This guy needs serious help!" and I kept that impression all throughout the film. Alabama didn't prove much better in this regard as the way she shrugged Clarence's violence off (the line "I think what you did is so romantic" made me cringe so hard) also annoyed me. As per Tarantino style, the action is highly stylized, but I found very little of it exciting. Those scenes really could've used some tightening up in terms of editing and cinematography. Even the final shootout, though interesting on paper, suffered from this to a degree. With that being said, I liked a few aspects about this film. Tarantino's writing style isn't for everyone, and while a couple scenes like the n word conversation are cringe inducing, I enjoyed most of the dialogue and felt it brought enough style to the film to keep it entertaining from beginning to end. Tarantino has a talent for writing catchy and witty scripts and this film was no exception to that. The film also lives up to another of Tarantino's strengths as it has a strong ensemble cast. Slater, Hopper, Walken, Rubinek, Rapaport, and even Arquette, though her acting occasionally annoyed me, ranged from good to great. Finally, while the story didn't interest me much, I did enjoy a few smaller scenes within the larger story, like Elliot being pulled over by a cop. Issues aside, I enjoyed my time with this film and, while I doubt I'll ever end up loving it, I might watch it again if I'm in the right mood.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... BOUND


Roger Ebert said:



James Robert Douglas, from The Guardian, said:



@Takoma11 said:

LOVED this movie...a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2026836-bound.html

Wasn't looking to be used, just wanted to share my enthusiasm about the movie.

#60. True Romance (1993)

This is fully in my radar. I've seen it several times, first in theatre, last - about ten years ago. For some reason, I didn't think of it when started constructing my ballot.
Yes, a rich collection of colorful characters. (In those early nineties, I've passionately followed Christian Slater's films, being heavily obsessed by The Name of the Rose (1986) and True Romance totally satisfied my expectations).
+
82/100