Beverly Hills Cop Review (Revisited Part 2) "Way to go, you're some kind of cop, you know that?!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, as its now April, I've been busy with other stuff but figured I would finally do another post and this will be yet another revisit (sorry again!) of a previous review, which will be on the comedy action film, Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy.

So, with this film now 42 years old, let's take a look and see how it fairs...

And the usual warning is coming... 

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!

STORY

So the film begins with the main character, Axel Foley (Murphy) who is a cocky but talented detective with the Detroit police force.  Foley goes undercover on a sting operation involving a cigarette smuggling operation, which turns sour when a couple of cops unwittingly come across Foley trying to deal with the smugglers.  This then leads the smugglers to run off, with one of them driving the truck away (with Axel in the back hanging on for dear or cheap life!) and the driver causes alot of damage in the city, who ditches the truck then runs off.  

Foley back at the station faces his boss, Inspector Todd (Gil Hill) who is angered by his operation which was unauthorised and he warns Axel if he disregards police procedure again he will be fired.  Axel later returns back to his apartment where he finds his best friend Michael Tandino (James Russo) is there who was previously serving time, but after his release went to Beverly Hills where he worked as a security guard, a job he got through a mutual friend, Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher).  

After they go out to a local bar and head back to Axel's apartment, Axel is knocked out by two men who then question Tandino, who had stolen some bearer bonds from the factory where he worked, then is killed by one of the men, Zack (Jonathan Banks). Afterwards Axel insists on getting involved in the case but Todd refuses to let him due to his close ties with Tandino.  Axel then decides he wants to go on vacation, which he uses as an excuse to go to Beverly Hills and try and solve the crime himself.  

In Beverly Hills, Axel meets up with Jenny who tells him she hired Tandino to work for Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) a wealthy local art dealer.  Axel then goes to meet Maitland at his office, by barging in, he tries to question him but then Maitland has his bodyguards throw him out and they launch Axel through entrance windows.  Axel is then arrested by two police officers for a charge of disturbing the peace and taken to the police station where he meets Sergeant Taggart (John Ashton), Detective Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and their senior officer Lieutenant Bogomil (Ronny Cox).  

Bogomil asks what Axel is doing in Beverly Hills and also that he has spoken with Inspector Todd who said if he finds out he has been investigating the Tandino murder, he will be brought up on charges and fired, but Axel simply insists he is on vacation.  Bogomil then has Taggart and Rosewood follow Axel's movements, however Axel manages to evade them using different methods.  Axel then sneaks into one of Maitland's warehouses where he snoops around and finds information that reveals most of Maitland's crates were not passed through customs. 

After this Axel joins with Taggart and Rosewood and reluctantly persuades to come along to a strip bar where Axel spots two men whom he foils from committing a robbery.  Axel is taken back to the police station where he tries to big up Taggart and Rosewood, who reclutantly tell Bogomil that Axel deserves credit for the arrest, but Bogomil then decides to take them both off the case and put two of his other staff on tagging Axel's movements.  

The next day Axel manages to evade Bogomil's backup cops, and he meets with Maitland at a country club where he confronts him and attacks Maitland's bodyguard, Zack, only to be arrested again.  Back at the police station Bogomil insists why Axel keeps bothering Maitland and Axel tells him about Tandino and how he thinks Maitland had him killed and what he has learned so far.  Bogomil while sympathetic is then ordered by his police chief Hubbard (Steven Elliott) to escort Axel off the building and ensure that he leaves Beverly Hills.  

On leaving however Axel persuades Rosewood to take him to one of Maitland's warehouses so he can expose the evidence of Maitland's smuggling, but when he get's Maitland's men are waiting for him, and from here Axel needs to find a way to get even for his friend's murder...

THOUGHTS

Beverly Hills Cop was a big commercial hit on its release and its easy to see why as it is still a very enjoyable action comedy, and it was also one of the early buddy buddy cop films.  And its a perfect vehicle for Eddie Murphy's comedic skills as the cocky Axel Foley where he uses his improvisation in pretending to be someone in order to get what needs, and he is undoubtedly the film's star as he get's plenty of comic highlights. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!) 

So, as for the performances, they are pretty good overall here.

Starting with Eddie Murphy, who is perfect in his role as Axel Foley, the young detective from Detroit, who investigates the murder of his friend out in Beverly Hills. Murphy himself actually was a replacement for Sylvester Stallone, who was originally going to be cast in the role as Axel but he dropped out two weeks into production and Murphy was cast instead.   

And Muprhy's notable scenes include the one where Axel attempts to check into an expensive hotel but he is told they are fully booked and he pretends he is a journalist writing a story on Michael Jackson for Rolling Stone magazine.  And he angrily says to the desk clerk "Don't you think I know what is going on here, miss? I'm small reporter who is in town to do an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson for Rolling Stone Magazine, which is going to get picked up all over the world. But I was going to call the story Michael Jackson can sit on top of the world, as long as he doesn't sit in the Beverly Palms Hotel because there are no niggers allowed in there!". The manager then comes along and puts Axel at ease by telling him there has been a last minute cancelation and he gives him a room key and Axel says "Thank you, if Michael calls tell him I'm here".

Then there is the scene where Axel is throwing out of Maitland's office and quite literally through a window. So, in the scene, Maitland orders his men to escort Axel to the door and they pick him up and Axel angrily shouts "GET THE FUCK OFF ME, MAN!!! GET OFF ME!!". So, as they go down in the elevator, they throw him through the window and almost immediately a police car turns up and the officers tell him to get up. Axel says "Did you see this shit?! I can describe ALL of them!". One of the police officers tells him to put his hands on the car bonnet, so Axel does and they find his gun and one of the cops tells him "Sir, you are under arrest, you have the right to remain silent!" and Axel asks "So, what's the charge?" and the cop says "Possession of a weapon and disturbing the peace". Axel then shouts "Disturbing the peace?! I got thrown out of a window! What's the charge for getting thrown out of a moving car, huh?!! Jailwalking?!! This is bullshit!!".

Then we have the scene where Axel in a cell at the Beverly hills police department, is beckoned by one of the officers to leave the cell. So, Axel says to him "Its about time, I thought you guys forgot about me. I never been in a cell with a phone it. Can I stay? As I ordered some pizza!" but the cop beckons him again and Axel get's up and leaves with him and he says to himself "Somebody'll eat it".

Another good scene is when Axel sniffs around Maitland's warehouse and pretends to be a customs officer to get information. So, Axel spots a security guard as he looks around and says to him "How you doin?! You got a match?" and the guard says "There's no smoking here" and Axel says "Its Ok. I'm going to smoke it outside" and the guard gives him a match. Axel then asks "Are you security here?" and the guard says "Yeah" and Axel asks "Do you have a supervisor?" and the guard asks "What's the problem?" and Axel suddenly flashes his badge and angrily says "You're the fuckin problem, go get your supervisor now! NOW!!" and the guard nervously says "OK" and walks off.

Then there is the next scene where Axel has the warehouse supervisor's men checks their files for information relating to Maitland's manifests. So, in the scene one of the staff asks Axel "You got a warrant for this?" and Axel irritated says to him "You know you have a very big mouth, sir. Is that your porsche outside? I bet that's yours porsche outside! How would you like the IRS to come down here and take your car and crawl up your fuckin ass with microscope?! I seen them do it and it ain't a pretty sight!". 

Another one of Murphy's highlights is the "supercop" scene where he tries to tell Bogomil how great Taggart and Rosewood are and how they foiled the robbery at the strip bar and he says "I don't know what you teach these fellows, as its like a sixth sense, and all that's missing from them are capes!". Taggart how tells the truth to Bogomil and says that Axel deserves the credit for the arrest and Bogomil says to Axel "Detective Foley, I respect your assistance but in future if you want to practice law enforcement, I suggest you do it in Detroit". Axel then nods and says "I understand, sir and I'm sorry. But I want you to know the supercop story was working, and you guys just messed it up" and Bogomil can't help but smile at this. Axel then says as he leaves "I'm trying to figure you guys out but I haven't yet, you fuck up a perfectly good lie and its alright!".  And if you watch this scene you can clearly see John Ashton as Taggart, trying not to laugh.  

Also the moment where he walks into Maitland's country club and he pretends to be gay infront of the maitre'd, essentially mimicing Serge from Maitland's gallery. So, Axel in a camp voice says to the maitre'd "I have to talk to Victor, its very important" and the maitre'd says "Well, why do you tell me the message and I'll give to him". So, Axel in his camp voices "Well, yeah I guess I can do that. Tell Victor that Ramone, the man Victor saw, tell he had a herpes simplex 10, and he said he better go and check with his physician before things start falling off on the man!".The maitre'd suddenly looks embarrassed and says "Perhaps you better tell him that" and Axel says "You know I think that would be best!" and the maitre'd says "So, do I" and Axel walks off.

Then there is the scene where Axel goes into Maitland's warehouse with Jenny and opens one of the crates to find bags of cocaine hidden under coffee grounds. So, in the scene Axel opens the crate and says to Jenny "This is one that hasn't passed through customs yet" and we see the coffee grounds and Jenny puts her hand in and takes some and sniffs it and says "Coffee?!" and Axel says "Yeah, coffee ontop" and pulls out a bag of cocaine and quickly tastes a little and says "This ain't sugar. Go get Rosewood" but then they are surrounded by Maitland's men at gunpoint and one of them says to Axel "Welcome to the party!". And as Maitland arrives, Axel warns him as Jenny is taken captive "If something happens to her..." and Maitland says "I'm all ears" and Axel seriously says "I'll kill you" and Maitland smiles and says "Really? That would be a neat trick!".

And last of all is the final scene of the film, where Axel meets with Taggart and Rosewood outside the hotel he was staying at and Axel offers them to go for a drink. So, in the scene Axel says to them "I was figuring I would have drink before leaving the city" and Taggart smiles and says "Yeah, we kind of figured you would" and Rosewood says "Oh, I don't think so, Axel, we're still on duty" and Taggart suprisingly says "Oh, well one drink isn't going to kill us, Billy" and Axel delighted says "Listen to Taggart, Rosewood! One drink is not gonna kill us!". Axel then says to them "Hey, if you get lost just follow my lead OK?" and Axel says "I know the perfect place, you'll love it! Trust me!" and he gives a furtive wink and it freezes. 

The supporting cast are also excellent, especially the John Ashton and Judge Reinhold as Taggart and Rosewood and they make for a very amusing comic double act as the two bumbling cops. Both actors would reprise their roles in the sequel Beverly Hills Cop 2 and Axel F (the latest Netflix entry) but sadly Ashton passed away from cancer in 2024, not long after the release of Axel F. 

And Ashton's first scene is worth a mention as Taggart and Rosewood question Axel at the station, so Taggart asks Axel "Why didn't you identify yourself as a policeman when we first arrested you?" and Axel says "Because I was minding my own business. Where the fuck do you guys get off at arresting someone for being thrown out of a window?". Taggart then says "We havesix witnesses say, you went in tore up the place and jumped out the window!" and Axel asks "And you guys believe that? What the fuck are you? Cops or doormen?!". Taggart then angrily says "We're more likely to believe an important local business, then some foul mouth jerk from out of town!" and Axel says "Foul mouth?? Fuck you man!".  Taggart now angry stands up and warns Axel "You watch your mouth!" and Axel then warily stands up and says "Look do you want to square off with me with some bullshit and start some static?" and Axel pushes him and Taggart says "Don't push me!" and Axel pushes him back and says "Fuck you man!" and Taggart punches him in the stomach. Then Bogomill calls Taggart into his office and Taggart soon returns to Axel and awkwardly says "Sir, I apologise for striking you, I have no excuse". 

Then there is the scene where Taggart and Rosewood tail Axel but do it not so subtly as he is onto them and Axel distracts them by sending down a supper from the hotel to their car. So, the waiter from the hotel with the dish says to them "Compliments of Axel Foley" and Rosewood surprised asks "Foley?! How did he know we were here?" and Taggart says "Becuase I let you drive!".

One of their funniest scenes is where Rosewood and Taggart stakeout waiting for Axel in their car and Rosewood reads aloud from a newspaper article and says "Wow! It says here by the time the average man is 50, he will have five pounds of undigested meat in his bowels" and Taggart angrily says "Why are you telling me this?  What makes you think I have any interest in that at all?" and Rosewood replies "Well you eat alot of red meat!". This is then followed by the scene where Rosewood says to Taggart "You know I've noticed you've been drinking a lot of coffee lately. Well, I think that's why you have a hard time relaxing" and Taggart shakes his head.  

Then there is the scene where Rosewood drives Axel to the city limits but Axel tries to persuade him to go to Maitland's warehouse to nail their illegal shipment. So, in the scene Rosewood asks Axel "Why didn't you tell Bogomil about this shipment?" and Axel says "Bogomil does everything by the book, I'm starting to think everyone in this town is a goddamn robot! This thing is very personal to me". Rosewood then shakes his head and says "All I had to do was drive you out of town, now Im gonna screw that up too!" and he sighs and says "Oh boy!" and Axel says "Billy, I love you! I just fallen in love with you!".

Also later on during the climactic fight scene at Maitland's house, Rosewood holds up his badge to Maitland's guards and shouts "Police you're all under arrest!!" and they open fire at him and Taggart admonishes him and says "You do that again, I'll shoot you myself!".  This is then followed by the funny moment Rosewood and Taggart at Maitland's house hide behind some plants from the gunfire and Rosewood says this reminds him of the climax of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Taggart looks at him wearliy saying "Billy, I'm gonna make you pay for this!".

Then this is followed by the scene where the Beverly hills police surround the area and point their guns at the remaining henchmen of Maitland. So, Billy takes his moment and holds up his badge and shouts out "Police you are all under arrest!! Put down your weapons infront of you and take two steps back and put your hands up!!!" and the henchman comply. Taggart then looks on impressed and says to Rosewood "Very good" and Rosewood pleased with himself says "Great!".

Steven Berkoff is also very good as Victor Maitland, the film's main antagonist (or bad guy) and he plays Maitland with a smarmy and transparent deviousness and its clear from the get go that he is dirty.  

Berkoff has a few scenes worth mentioning starting with his first one where Axel barges into Maitland's office. So, Maitland sees Axel and asks "Who let you in here?" and Axel says "I let myself in. I cam here to ask you some questions about Michael Tandino" and Matiland and his bodyguard, Zack look tense for a moment. So, Maitland hangs up his call and asks "And what may I ask is your interest in Mr Tandino?" and Axel says "He was a friend of mine, he visited me in Detroit and a few hours later somebody killed him" and Maitland shocked says "Oh my God! That's terrible!" and Axel says "Its fucked up". So, Maitland asks "And what is it you want to know?" and Axel asks "He worked for you , didn't he?" and Maitland "Yes he did. This is terrible news". Axel then asks "Exactly why did Mikey do for you here?" and Maitland asks "I'm sorry, I don't know your name" and Axel says "My name is Foley" and Maitland says "Well, Mr Foley, I don't mean to sound rude but I think this is something for the police in Detroit to take care of" and he hits a buzzer on his desk and some mean suddenly enter. Maitland then says to his men "Could you escort Mr Foley to the door?" and they grab Axel off his feet and drag him out as Axel shouts "GET THE FUCK OFF ME! GET OFF!". 

Then there is the scene when Axel confronts him at Maitland's country club and Axel says to him "Hi, Victor, I'm back". Zack then get's up and warns him "Why don't you get the hell out of here, cuz!" and Axel says "Keep the fuck away from me, man!" and Victor tries to hit him and Axel throws him over a buffet table. Axel then says to Victor "That's very good, Victor. Can he sit down and roll over and all that shit too?". Maitland then asks "What do you want?" and Axel says "I want to talk to you, last time I didn't get a chance to talk to you" Maitland angrily says "I have nothing to say to you" and Axel says That's cool, I'll do all the talking". 

Axel then sits next to Maitland and says "This is a real nice club, Victor, real nice" and Maitland says "That's good, I must make you a member". Axel then says "Look, Victor, I know you're into some crooked shit and I have a pretty good you had Mikey killed but when I find out for sure, I'm gonna fuck you up real bad". So, Matiland calmly threatens Axel "Now listen to me my tough little friend. I don't know from under which stone you crawled or where you get these ridiculous ideas about me, but it seems painfully obvious to me you don't have the slightest fucking idea who you are dealing with!  Now here's my advice to you, go back to your little rock in Detroit before you get sqaushed, OK?". The police then come in and handcuff Axel again and Axel says "Gotta go now, Vic" as he is cuffed and he looks at Maitland and says "Catch you later, Vic!" and Maitland says "I can't wait!".

And last of all is the scene where Axel and Jenny are captured by Maitland's men at his warehouse and Maitland looks at Jenny and says to her "Jeanette, I can't tell you how disappointed I am to see you here" and Jenny tries to explain "Victor..." and he shouts "SHUT UP!! I don't want to hear it". Jenny then nervously asks of Axel "What are you going to do with him?" and Maitland threatens her "I think you should be more worried about what we're going to do with you". Then after she is taken away, Axel warns Maitland "If something happens to her..." and Maitland sarcastically says "I'm all ears" and Axel says to him "I'll kill you" and Maitland smiles "Really? That would be a neat trick". So, as Zack punches Axel in the stomach and slaps his face, Maitland bids farewell "Goodbye, Mr Foley, have a nice day!".   

Elsa Eilbacher does a fine job in her role as Jenny, Axel's friend, who works for Maitland at his gallery and helps him try and find out if Maitland was involved. 

So, Elsa has a few scenes worth mentioning such as the one where Jenny bails Axel out of the police department. So, as they walk to Jenny's car, Axel says to her "It just so happens Mike had some  German bearer bonds on him when he was killed, when I mentioned his name in Maitland's office, that's what he does to try throw me out". Jenny however then says "Axel, you barge into his office like a hoodlum, I mean if I didn't know, I would have thrown you out!". So, they stop at Jenny's car and Axel surprised asks "Is this your car?!" and Jenny sarcastically says "No, in Beverly hills we just take whichever car is closest!".

Then there is the following scene where Jenny drives Axel back to his hotel and she smiles and says "I remember you used to drive that crappy blue Chevy Nova. What are you driving now?" and Axel tells her "The same blue crappy Chevy Nova" and she laughs. Axel then laughs and asks her "Do you think its too late for me to study art?" and Jenny says "Yeah, I do". Jenny then asks Axel "Axel, you don't think Maitland had something to with Mikey getting killed?" and Axel says "No, no, I was just poking around". Jenny then says "Axel, Victor Mailtand is one of the most successful art dealers in the last 10 years" and Axel says sarcastically "I'm impressed" as he looks in the rear view mirror and Jenny asks "What are you looking back there for?" and Axel says "The cops are following us" and Jenny surprised asks "What? Where?" and Axel says "In the back on the right, a biege Ford".  

Bronson Pinchott also makes a noteworthy debut as the camp art gallery employee, Serge, whom Axel shares a scene with when he asks him how much a vase went for in the gallery and on telling him the price "100,000 dollars to a collector" and Axel yells Gget the fuck out of here!" and Serge says "No, I'm serious, I sell it myself!". 

Pinchott's best line is of course when Axel and Rosewood later arrive at the gallery and Axel asks Serge if he will make Rosewood some tea. So, Axel asks Serge "Can make my friend an espersso?" and Serge asks "Do you want it with a little lemon twist" and Rosewood says "Sure if it isn't too much trouble" with Serge replying "No don't be stupid!" and Axel laughs.   

Other performances in the film worthy of note are of course Ronny Cox who is great as Lt Bogomil, who he plays as a decent cop who is very straight down the line and does everything by the book.  

Cox has some good scenes worth of note such as the one where Bogomil says to Axel after Taggart punches Axel, "Detective Foley, do you wish to press charges against this officer for assault?" and Axel asks "This a joke, right? Look where I'm from cops don't file charges against other cops. No, I don't want to do that". Bogomil then asks Axel "What were you doing in Victor Maitland's office?" and Axel says "I'm on vacation, I stopped by his place, looked like a nice place, so I went into the bathroom and next thing I know six guys threw me through the window". 

Bogomil then says to Axel "I just got off the phone with an inspector Todd in Detroit, that name ring a bell?" and Axel awkwardly says "He's my boss". Bogomil then says "He says you are an outstanding young detective, I find that very hard to believe" and Axel says "Its true though". Bogomil then says "He also told me, he nearly had to fire you for insubordination, now I find that very easy to believe". Bogomil then says "I've got a message from Inspector Todd, you want to hear it?" and Axel worried says "I don't think so" and Bogomil says "He says if you are out here investigating the Tandino murder, you needn't bother coming back. He says if you tell us you are investigating this case, you will be brought up on charges and fired! Now one last time, what are you doing?" and Axel shouts "I'm on VACATION!" and Bogomil smiles and says "Vacation! Rosewood could you take Mr Foley over to the courthouse and have him arrange for bail?".

Then there is the scene where Bogomil confronts Axel over why he is perstering Maitland after being arrested at Maitland's private club. So, Bogomil asks "Detective Foley, this is becoming very irritating! Why are you bothering Victor Maitland?". Axel realises he has no choice, tells the truth "I had a friend Michael Tandino, who visited me in Detroit and Maitland had him killed. I can't prove that right now, but when I do, you'll be the first to know" and Bogomil, now sympathetic says "Forget what you can prove, talk to me". Axel then shares what he has learned having spied on Maitland's warehouse and the crates that were being brought in. So, Bogomil then asks "And you witnessed all this?" and Axel says "Everything except the drugs, but I found coffee grounds all over the warehouse" and Taggart asks "You something about this before, what does that mean?" and Bogomil says "Drugs are sometimes packed in coffee grounds, the scent throws off the dogs". 

And lastl there is the scene where Bogomil tells the police chief what happened in the aftermath of the shootout at Matiland's mansion. So, Bogomil makes up a report saying to the chief "And in the course of defending ourselves, we shot several suspects, including Mr Maitland". Chief then asks "You expect me believe that report?" and Bogomil says "That's the report I'm filing, sir" and the chief asks Taggart "Sgt Taggart, can you tell me what really happened?" and after a long pause Taggart says "It happened just the way the Lt said, chief" and everyone smiles. So, the chief says to Bogomil "Well, I guess congratulations are in order, I expect to have that report on my desk tomorrow" and Bogomil says "Yes, sir, first thing".  So, after the chief leaves, Axel smiles and says "You were lying your ass off!" and Alex then asks Bogomil if he could straighten out his mess with Todd in Detroit and Bogomil generously says "I will call him first thing tomorrow" and Axel says "You will?" and Bogomil says "You bet" and Axel says "Thank you so much, sir". 

Gil Hill, who was a real life police detective, does a fine job as Inspector Todd and he is given some great dialogue. Hill also after his retirement from the police service, went on to a political career as a councilman working for Detroit. Hill would later himself die in 2016. 

And Gill has two good scenes, such as the one where Axel and shouts at him after the cigarette bust "You mind telling me where you come off doing some undercover bullshit! You wanna do that, go do it on someone else's precinct!". Axel then says "You wan't to hear my side of the story" and Todd says "What's your fuckin side of the story??!" and Axel pauses and says "Let's hear your side of the story". 

Todd then warns Axel "You know how much this little stunt of yours cost this city" and Axel says "I don't think cost should be the issue, sir, I think the issue should be my blatant disregard for correct procedure". Todd annoyed then says "You damn right, wiseass! The chief just called the deputy chief and deputy just chewed my ass out! You see I don't have any bit of it left, don't you?!". Tood then warns Axel "Look, Axel, you're a good cop and you've got great potential, but I'm tired of taking the heat for your ass. One more time and you're out on the street, do you understand me?" and Axel tries to explain "Look boss..." and Todd says firmly "Do you understand me?!!" and Axel says "Yeah I understand". Axel then says as Todd walks away "Boss, the chief hasn't chewed it all off, you still have a little ass there" and Todd fed up warns Axel "Don't fuck with me, Axel! Not now. Go on, go home". 

Then there is the scene where after Mike is murdered, Todd says to Axel to check himself at the hospital for his head wound after being knocked out. So, Axel asks about the case investigation and says to Todd "Look, I heard Rand is on this case and between the two of us, he doesn't know the time of day. He hasn't left his desk in 12 years" and Todd says "At least he's had 12 years. Just don't do a damn thing, stay out of this!". Axel then angrily says "Look, we're talking about a friend of mine here!" and Todd says "Yes, we are, aren't we? Let's take a closer a look at that friend,  one a hoodlum friend, two a professional hit, three, in a cop's apartment. This whole thing stinks to high heaven!". Axel asks "How do you know it was a professional hit?" and Todd says "Whoever killed you're little friend wasn't worried about your narrow ass. If they were, you'd be inside that meat wagon with him!". Axel then says he has some vacation time and wants to take it and Todd warns him "Stay away from this case, Axel" and Axel says "Look, I've got some vacation time coming to me, I wanna take it, that's all". Todd looks at him and says "Alright, when you're done at the hospital, you're on vacation" and Axel says "Thank you" but Todd warns him "But if you decide to butt into this case, it'll be the longest vacation you'll ever heard of".  

Jonathan Banks is also pretty good at Maitland's main henchman Zack, who kills Axel's friend Tandino.  Banks had a fine line in playing baddies in 80s films at that time, and he does a good job at playing the brutal bad guy.

And I will mention two of Banks's scenes starting with the one where Zack turns up outside Axel's apartment, knocking out Axel, he confronts Tandino over the stolen bonds. So, Zack says to him "Hey, Mikey, where have you been?" and Tandino worried says "What's up, Zack?". So, Zack asks him "What have you got there, Mikey?" and the other henchman searches his pockets and produces the bonds. Tandino then tearfully says "I swear to Christ I was gonna bring the back!" and Zack asks "You got lost?" and Tandino says "No, I figured you'd know I had them, you know?" and Zack slaps him and asks "What am I supposed to do with you, Mikey?". Tandino then says "I'm sorry" and Zack says "Shut up, Mikey" and he puts his arm around him and warns Tandino "I swear if I ever see your face out there again. EVER!" and Tandino says "You won't. I'm sorry!" and Zack says "EVER!" Tandino says "You won't, I'm sorry. I fucked up, I'm sorry". Zack then seemingly takes Tandino's answer but then punches him in the gut and takes out his gun and shoots him.

Then there is the scene where Zack confronts Axel in the warehouse and says to him "Well cuz!" and Axel says "Are you still pissed at me" (as Axel threw him over a buffet table earlier in the film) and he replies "Oh no, no! But I should have taken care of you in Detroit" and he leans into him and says "When I popped your little buddy!". Zack then punches Axel in the stomach twice and slaps his face with contempt as Maitand prepares to leave and says "Goodbye, Mr Foley, have a nice day!".

Last of all is James Russo, who is very good in his role as Michael "Mike" Tandino, Axel's best friend who is killed not long after they reunite in Detroit.

So, as Russo only has a few scenes, I will mention his first one where Axel finds his apartment door wide open and he slowly walks in with his gun ready, so he shouts at he points it in the kitchen only to find Mike helping himself to food out of Axel's fridge. So, Axel laughs as he sees him and goes and gives him a warm hug.

So, in the scene Axel says "How are you doin??! You done breaking into people's houses?" and Mike says "What do you expect with that door?! Why don't you buy a real fuckin lock for that door, huh?!". So, Axel says "Man, look at you! When did you get out?" and Mike says "I got out six months ago" and Axel surprised asks "You got out six months ago and only coming to see me NOW?" and Mike says "Yeah, I got early for good behaviour and figured I'd go to California and get some sun". Mike then takes a package out and puts it on Axel's table and Axel asks "What is it?" and Mike says "10,000 deutschmark" and Axel asks "Deutschmark?" and Mike says "They're bearer bonds, their bonds". Axel then says "I don't even wanna know, man! Its good to see you!" and they hug again and Mike says "I missed you, man! I missed you!".

So, in the next scene Mike and Axel go to a local bar and play pool as Mike tells Axel what he was doing out in California. So, Axel asks "What were you doing out in California?" and Mike says "I was working" and Axel asks "Where?" and Mike says "Beverly Hills" and Axel laughs and says "What were you doing out there?" and Mike says "I was a security guard" and Axel laughs again and says "Who the fuck is gonna hire you as a security guard?" and Mike says "Jenny Summers" which prompt surprise from Axel "Jenny Summers! Shit, I haven't heard from Jenny in years, how is she doing?" and Mike tells him "She's doing great, she's working as a manager out an art gallery, the Hollis Benton art gallery, you ever hear of it?" and Axel sarcastically says "Oh, yeah I buy all my art there!".

Then after this, they go to the bar and by now they are half cut, so Mike grins and says to Axel "I gotta great idea, let's steal a car!" and Axel laughs and says "You kidding?! I'm a fuckin police officer, I can't steal cars no more!". So, Mike reminisces when Axel stole a car and they laugh and Axel asks "Hey, why didn't you tell them I was with you when you got caught?" and Mike says "You dunno?" and Axel says "No" and Mike says "You dunno?" and Axel again says "No" and Mike sincerely say "Cos, I love you, man" and he downs his drink and says "One more!". 

DIRECTOR 

Moving onto the direction, the director Martin Brest does a good job here in keeping the comedy and action moving along nicely at a good pace and the film never really lags as its quite taut time wise in just over 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Brest interestingly enough was previously hired to direct the film WarGames (but he was fired after nearly two weeks due to a personal dispute on the production) and the sets used for the Beverly Hills police department were actually the sets designed for the NORAD base in WarGames and you can see how similar they look.  

Getting onto the film's music score by German composer, Harold Faltermeyer it remains one of the most memorable synthesized scores from the 80s and Axel's theme is instantly recgonisible and overall its a pretty good one. The score itself has plenty of light hearted and atmospheric passages that compliment the comedy and action of the film. The score also features the memorable title track "The Heat Is On" by Glenn Frey, which is instantly recognisble.    

FLAWS

As for the flaws... yes Beverly Hills Cop isn't perfect. 

So, for starters, you could argue at times Axel's character while he is likeable, he does become a bit grating and childish, especially when he takes the mickey out of Bogomil's black police officer for how he says "We're not gonna fall for a banana in the tailpipe".  You just think at that point that you wish Axel would grow up a bit, but perhaps it also highlights his youthful naivety.  

The film naturally as it is an 80s flick also looks quite dated to its period and the fashions are blatantly outrageous, and most of all the cheesy 80s music tracks are pretty duff and cringeworthy to listen to, particularly the track used in the strip bar called, Vanity 6's "Nasty girl" and "Stir it up" by Patty LeBelle.  

I also found it remarkable how quick the cops were to show up when Axel is thrown out the entrance window to Maitland's offices. I mean these cops are there in almost a split second after Axel lies stunned sitting on the ground having been just throw through the window. Not only that, Axel isn't cut or bruised in any way shape or form here, so maybe the windows were made of sugar glass! I suppose in Hollywood films they will of course use breakaway glass, which will reduce the risk of cuts or bruises. 

There are also some daft moments in the film such as Axel going to the bonded warehouse and flashing his badge to the supervisor without of course the guy actually being able to see it. So, naturally the supervisor and the staff have to comply with him although they could have actually asked to see it to try and call his bluff but for the sake of convention they never do it.

I also thought it was a bit silly how in the scene where Axel offers a hotel robe to Taggart, who says to keep it as a soveneir, Axel says "I already have three of them in my bag". However when you say Axel's bag, its way too small to actually fit more than one of those robes in his bag never mind three of them! So, yeah this scene always struck me as being a bit stupid and making no real sense.  

However, in retrospect having watched that scene again, Axel's bag does look bigger than I thought and he does travel light in the film with few changes in clothes, so I guess its somewhat believable. Still, its funny how Taggart doesn't bother with the notion of Axel effectively stealing three of these shower robes from the hotel (either that or the tab covered it!).  

Last of all is the state of Axel's car, it really is a crappy Blue Chevy Nova as Jenny describes at one point but when you see it, its also a dirty mess and it begs the question, has Axel NEVER washed this car? I mean, its just a muddy mess and you think he would at least get it washed at least once since he got it, but nope, it looks really shitty. So, yeah, I guess it highlights Axel's laziness when it comes to these things.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up Beverly Hills Cop is still a very enjoyable watch after 40 years, despite its 80's fashions, it has aged relatively well and its the perfect vehicle for Murphy's comedic skills The performances are also very good with Murphy perfect in his role as the cocky cop Axel Foley and the supporting cast of John Ashton as Taggart, Judge Reinhold as Rosewood and Ronny Cox as Bogomil all excellent. The score by Harold Faltermeyer is also very memorable and sticks with you well after the film is over. There are some minor flaws with the story here and there but that aside, this is still an excellent action comedy film that is still worth watching 40 years later.

So, I will rate Beverly Hills Cop:

9 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post hopefully soon!

Until then bye for now! 

Resident Evil Requiem Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, now we are into the month of March (or are marching into it (sorry!) its time for yet another post and this is a new one, which will be on a video game I've just recently completed, which is Resident Evil Requiem, the latest in the famous survival horror series.

So, as the Resi series celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, let's see how the latest entry in the series fairs...

And there will be the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, I won't go into the plot too much but I will give a small part of it, which begins with a young FBI analyst, Grace Ashcroft (voiced by Angela Sant Albano) being sent to investigate a crime scene of a place where Racoon city survivors were found dead from a variant of the T-Virus. The scene in question however is where Grace's mum was murdered 8 years ago, an abandoned place called the Wrenwood hotel.

Grace on investigating inside soon discovers many photos of herself over a bed and has a flashback to the night her mother, Alyssa was killed. Grace on further exploring, soon finds the cop who let her in earlier to the hotel, who has been infected with the T-Virus and soon becomes a zombie and attacks Grace but she manages to subdue him and flee. However, on going upstairs, she enters a room and finds a strange hooded figure, who turns out to be Victor Gideon (voiced by Antony Byrne) a former Umbrella scientist, who renders Grace unconscious and leaves the hotel with her. On leaving the hotel however, Gideon fires several darts at passers-by on the streets, turning them all into zombies. At the same time, DSO agent, Leon Kennedy (voiced by Nick Apostolidos) shows up at the scene but is too late to stop Gideon and he fights off several zombies attacks as her pursues them both. 

Leon soon tracks Grace to a care center with the help of fellow DSO agent, Sherry Birkin (voiced by Eden Riegel) where Grace is being held captive, strapped to a stretcher and wired up to an IV drip. Grace comes around and manages to escape by breaking the glass container for the drip and cutting her bonds with it but she soon also encounters a large monster, nicknamed the girl, who she is forced to play hide and seek with as she tries to escape.

After, Grace manages to evade the girl, she soon encounters Leon, who gives her his magnum gun, nicknamed Requiem and she tries to find a way out of the center. On the way, Grace also encounters a blind girl, Emily, who is locked in a cell, who she also frees and tries to take with her and from here Grace must find a way to uncover the truth of what is going on and to stop Gideon...

THOUGHTS

As the latest entry in the series, Requiem is a very solid and entertaining Resi game that successfully amalgamates two previous games in the series, Resi 7, which had a more stealthy, horror survival feel to it and Resi 4, which is more action orientated, with Grace taking on the RE7 approach and Leon RE4. So, without trying to give away spoilers here, most of the first half or so plays out with the stealth horror theme and the second primarily more action based and its a good mix overall of the two styles, as clearly Capcom was trying to find a way to please both types of fans. One thing for sure however is that this game is easily the MOST gory of all the Resi games thus far with plenty of blood and gore on display, so if you are a fan of that, you're bound to love this. 

GAMEPLAY 

As for the gameplay, I will as usual split this section into subcategories below.

MOVEMENT AND PERSPECTIVE

So, starting with movement and perspective, this game actually offers the player a choice to play in both first or third perspective as Grace, in order to try and stay true to the horror style of RE7 and even RE Village, so its up to the player to decide, whereas Leon's is just purely in third person. I personally played Grace as first person as intended for my first playthrough, which was a pretty intense experience at times but overall not too bad. 

STEALTH SURVIVAL

Moving onto the stealth aspect of the game, Grace will often use stealth to try and navigate her way around certain monsters, particularly the bigger ones and she also has limited resources available to her and access to only handguns compared to Leon. Another thing Grace can do however is distract enemies by throwing bottles at them to look the other way, so she can evade them. Grace can also use a cigarette lighter in the earlier stages of the game before using a flashlight a bit later on. 

COMBAT

As for the combat, starting with Grace, even though stealth can be essential she can also use her weapons to take down enemies and later can also craft weapons such as acid bottles and molotov cocktails, which definitely come in handy. Grace also has a weaker melee attack, where she can e.g. push zombies on the ground but this can be useful in certain sections to escape from them. Grace can also use a crafted item called a hemolytic injector that allows her to perform a stealth attack on zombies and destroy them and this can also be used on fallen zombies to prevent them from coming back to life in a similar manner to the crimson zombies in the Nintendo Gamecube RE1 remake. 

Moving onto Leon, his combat is naturally more involved as he can perform a number of brutal takedown moves against zombies using a hatchet, which he can also sharpen to prevent it from blunting. Leon also has a larger arsenal at his disposal as he can use handguns, shotguns and his own Requiem magnum, assault rifles and sniper rifles. Leon can also gain skill points later for killing enemies, which will allow to buy new weapons and or upgrade his existing ones. Leon similar to Grace can perform melee attacks but can also perform parries against enemies and can also pick up their weapons and throw them at others. What's for sure however is there is plenty of gore on display here with Leon shooting, smashing and crunching zombies and other monsters left, right and centre! 

CRAFTING ITEMS

Similar to previous Resi games, crafting is also a key aspect here, as both Leon and Grace can craft certain items. Starting with Grace however, her crafting abilities are more varied as she can use a blood analyzer to collect infected blood and use it to create healing items, ammo as well as acid bottles or molotov cocktails. Grace can also craft injector items that will boost her HP and enhance the damage of her weapons. As for Leon, he can primarily only craft healing items and ammo, similar to the previous Resi games. 

WEAPON UPGRADES & SKILL POINTS

Without giving spoilers away, there is another key aspect to the gameplay, which is for Leon only and that is a skill points system, which will allow him to gain points for killing zombies or other enemies, which had transferred into a small bracelet. Leon can then go back to a save point open the item chest and use the points to gain access to new weapons or upgrade existing weapons as well as sharpen and enhance his hatchet. 

GRAPHICS

Moving onto the graphics, well can be said about this game's visuals? In short, it looks absolutely stunning thanks again to Capcom's terrific RE game engine, which just gets better and better. So, its no surprise to report here than RE Requiem's visuals are amazing and the details of the environments are rich and detailed, from the building exteriors to the landscapes to dank indoors of the hotel and care center, not to mention the gruesome detail of the violence. 

But the character models are also where the game shines, as they are terrific and not quite but almost lifelike with Grace looking great and Leon, looking somewhat more mature and middle aged and they both have lifelike hair thanks to the game's hair strand tech. Additionally its also funny to see Sherry look so grown up and mature here also but she did also appear as a young adult in RE6. The supporting characters also look great in their own ways with the main antagonist, Victor Gideon looking suitably hideous with his grey and scarred skin and Zeno, who looks a lot like Wesker (who I honestly thought it was at first!). The zombies and other monsters are very well displayed here too, especially the girl and giant slob and a few later monsters too.

So, overall, Requiem is a real treat for the eyes on the PS5 standard version I played but the PS5 Pro and PC versions are reportedly even better as they support tracing. All in all though, this undoubtedly one of the best looking games of the year. 

VOICE ACTING

Moving onto the voice acting, the cast all do a pretty good job overall, so I will say a quick bit about them but not too much.

Starting with Angela Sant Albando, who is very good in her role as the young FBI agent, Grace, who investigates the deaths of Raccoon city survivors but is soon caught in whole lot of trouble and fighting off zombies and other monsters. Angela does a pretty good job at conveying Grace's outright fear and terror at her situation before slowly becoming more brave and heroic as the game progresses. One thing I would say about her performance is that Grace stutters a bit too much throughout the game and keeps saying "I...I...I...I don't know!" when asked something, which does get a bit grating. That aside though, she does a pretty good job overall here.

Nick Apostolides returns again here as the voice of Leon Kennedy and he does another great job at conveying Leon's cool nature but also retaining Leon's sarcastic quips, which adds a welcome element of humour to the proceedings as well as showing Leon is still a badass in his old age. In fact, I will quote one or two of his lines, such as the one where Gideon captures Leon and has him tied to a chair and Leon asks Gideon "I have one question though, when did you last brush your teeth?!". Another quip worth a mention is when Sherry is on the radio with Leon and Sherry says to him "Don't do anything stupid" and Leon says "Me?! Never!". 

Antony Byrne is also very good as the main villain, Victor Gideon, who's unnatural experiments result in creating another T-Virus outbreak but also in kidnapping Grace, he also plans to find the answer to something more sinister. Byrne plays Gideon with a soft and creepy voice, which fits his character very well as a calculating psychopath, who lays a path of destruction behind him.

Craig Burnatowski also is pretty good in his role as the mysterious character, Zino, who I honestly thought at first was supposed to be Albert Wesker, who has enhanced abilities kind of similar to Wesker's mutated abilities in RE5. Burnatowski himself did actually play Wesker briefly at the end of the RE4 remake, so that's certainly why I might have got these two characters mixed up.

Eden Riegel is also good in her role as Sherry Birkin, who was originally a child in the Resi series, coming into the game on RE2 but would later reappear in RE6 as a young adult but by now, Sherry is now in her late 30's and also a DSO agent, who works remotely in and office setting, helping Leon. Eden also voiced Sherry in RE6 too, so her voice will sound quite familiar if you've played both games. 

Last of all is Jane Perry, who is also very good in her role as Alyssa Ashcroft, Grace's mother, who is killed by a mysterious figure as she was trying to protect Grace from Umbrella. Perry herself might actually be better known as the voice of Rogue in Cyberpunk 2077, which I wasn't initially aware at first until I looked her up.

MUSIC 

Moving onto the music, the score was composed by not one but four composers, Nao Sato, Masahiro Ohki, Shigeyuki Kameda and Joseph Holiday and overall its a pretty solid one, which does its job at conveying the terror of the situation very well. The contrasting styles are evident between Grace and Leon's sequences for the stealth and the overt action scenes. So, while its not a great score per se, its still very befitting for the tone of the game. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain some spoiler references!)  

As for flaws...yeah OK, Resi Requiem isn't quite perfect.

For starters, I think there are some sections of the game, which can be a bit tedious and these are mostly in Grace's gameplay. The first one, I will mention is Grace trying to evade the girl monster in the care center, which will result in Grace being the girl's dinner if she is caught. However, this section despite the suspense of it, can become tedious, as you constantly have to duck out of sight and try and sneak through before the girl suddenly smashes through a door and spots you again. Plus the whole objective is to get a fuse to open the gate to escape, so once you get the fuse, you have to do the whole hide and seek BS once again! So, yeah this section is a bit of a chore.

There is also another flashback sequence later on, which is also a bit tedious involving a young girl, who is surrounded by some similar evil girls, who she tries to escape from but I won't say more than that on it. However, this section again feels a bit tedious, plus its also not that obvious at one point how you progress through it.  

I also found Grace's character to be OK for the most part but also a bit annoying with her constant stuttering in fear as already mentioned as she keeps saying "I..I..I..I don't know!" or variants of this but she does eventually calm down toward the end a bit. Its also a bit bizarre that her superior would send her to investigate such as a scene given her job is an FBI analyst and not a field agent, so given the horrors she is about to face, to say she's inexperienced would be an understatement!   

There is also a bizarre contrast in the size of Grace and Leon's inventory, as she gets a typical hip pouch upgrade whereas Leon gets a massive suitcase that can carry loads of items and weapons instead. But again this highlights the difference in the style of gameplay for both characters I guess however the differences are a bit startling with Grace's puny hip pouches vs Leon's TARDIS like suitcase!

Another big issue I had with the game was to do with just how exactly did Leon and Sherry contract the T-Virus in the first place? I mean this as far as I am aware was NEVER explained in the game at all (but I could be wrong and might have missed it but kind of doubt!). Also, as I was playing the game, I was waiting to hear the explanation from Leon or Sherry but you never really get one, you do see Sherry take medication to suppress the symptoms at one point but that's about it. But to get to the end of the game NO real explanation whatsoever, I have to say was a bit mystifying.   

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Resident Evil Requiem is a very enjoyable and solid entry in the Resi franchise that successfully marries two different gameplay styles of stealth and action well together as it copies the style of RE4 and RE7. The game also has fantastic visuals as the environments and character models are stunning and the RE engine remains impressive as ever and the voice acting is also very good with the actors for Grace and Leon doing a fine job as well as the supporting actors for Gideon, Zino and Sherry. 

There are some issues with the gameplay and the story but they aren't enough to really spoil things here and if you liked the previous Resi games, you will be bound to like this as it caters well enough for both fans of action and stealth alike.

So, with that I will rate Requiem:

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post sometime soon.

Until then, its bye for now!  

 

Speed Review "Yeah?!! We'll I'm taller!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, since we are close to March already, I figured I'd get another post done before the end of this month, which will be on the action film, Speed, starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper.  So, this will be a new review, which surprisingly I don't appear to have reviewed this film before, so why not do it now I guess. 

So, with that said let's take a look at how this film fairs 32 years on from its initial release.

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD

STORY

So, the film begins with a city office elevator being armed with explosives by a crazy bomber named Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) which traps 13 people inside.  So, in response, the LAPD send a SWAT team to deal with the situation and among them are officers Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels). As Jack and Harry attempt to save passengers by attaching a cable from the arm of a crane on the building rooftops to the hook on the elevator, Payne detonates the elevator as he hears them above. However, despite the detonation of the elevator, the crane arm just about holds long enough for Jack and Harry to rescue the passengers before it crashes down to the ground floor.  Jack however is convinced that the bomber is in the building somewhere, so on searching the elevators, they soon find Payne, who holds Harry hostage but Jack manages to distract Payne by shooting Harry in the leg, Payne then runs out and seemingly blows himself up.  

Some time later, Jack and Harry receive medals for their bravery on TV and we see that Payne survived as he watches the ceremony on TV. The following day, Jack at a cafe bids a bus driver he knows farewell on leaving only for the bus to explode into flames, however a payphone nearby rings and Jack answers it to hear Payne's voice. Payne tells Jack that he has rigged another bus with a bomb and it will arm once it reaches 50mph but if it slows down below 50, it will blow up and that he has until 11am to get him 3.7 million dollars otherwise the bus will then explode. Payne also tells Jack if he tries to unboard any passengers during this time, he will also detonate the bus and on telling him the bus number and location, Jack instantly drives to find it. 

So, on finding the bus, Jack eventually boards it and tries to tell the passengers of the situation, however one of the passengers, a felon, produces a gun and points it at Jack, who tries to diffuse things (no pun intended!) but another passenger, Ortiz (Carlos Carrasco) tries to disarm the felon and they end up accidentally shooting the driver, Sam (Hawthorne James). After Jack disarms and cuffs the felon, one of the passengers, Annie (Sandra Bullock) takes over the wheel and Jack explains the situation. 

So, from here, Jack and Annie must try and prevent the bus from slowing down under 50 on the frantic, busy freeways of Los Angeles, while Harry back at the office, helps in trying to discover Payne's identity...

THOUGHTS

Well, as far as sleeper hits go, Speed definitely is one of the best up there and its also got a quite a unique plot for an action film with a bus that will explode at under a certain speed with LAPD officer, Jack Traven trying to do all he can to prevent it from happening. The film's script, which was written by Graham Yost, was inspired by 1980's thriller, Runaway Train with Yost's father, who was a TV host, believing the out of control train had a bomb on it (which it didn't). Yost then later adapted the idea into a script and placed the setting on a bus instead. 

The film's premise also allows for some really suspensful moments also such as Jack and Harry rescuing the falling elevator passengers and of course later on the bus having to jump a 50 feet gap in a newly constructed freeway. But its also the film's characters that make the film work so well, with Jack being a tenacious, spirited young cop, who does all he can to stop the crazy bomber, Payne and Annie, the feisty passenger, who steps up and drives the bus and of course Payne, the bomber, who holds the bus passengers hostage to get his ransom. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and some strong language!)

As for the performances, the cast are all on good form here.

Starting with Keanu Reeves, who is pretty good in his role as Jack Traven, the young LAPD cop, who tries to stop Payne from detonating the bomb on the bus by keeping it over 50 mph. 

Keanu has quite a few notable scenes, starting with the one where Jack and Harry arrive at the scene of the armed elevator inside the shafts. So, Harry asks Jack about a hostage scenario involving a terrorist holding a woman at gunpoint at an airport and what would he do, so Jack after a pause says "Shoot the hostage, taker her out of the equation, go for the good wound and he can't get to the plane with her" and Harry says "You're deeply nuts, you know that?!". Jack then takes a look at the armed explosives on the elevator and says "Harry, this is all wrong, he's gonna blow it anyway" and Harry asks "How do you know?" and Jack says "Dunno, gut feeling" and Harry says "Well right now Mac (their Captain) outranks your guy, so we sit". Jack then says "Maybe there's something we can do about those hostages". So, they go up on the rooftops of the building and see the arm of a crane and Jack says "No, we just taken them out of the equation". 

Then there is the scene where Jack and Harry confront Payne in the elevator after they find him and as Payne holds Harry hostage with his detonator, Jack keeps his gun trained on him. So, Payne says to Jack "Well this day has been very disappointing I have to say!" and Jack says "Why? Cos, you didn't get to kill everyone?" and Payne says "There will come a time, boy, when you wish you'd never met met!" and Jack says "Mister, I'm already there!". So, as things get more heated Harry suggests "Shoot the hostage!" to Jack, who shoots Harry in the leg, who goes down in pain and Payne looks surprised and Jack trains his gun on Payne and shouts "FREEZE! GIVE IT UP! YOU'RE OUT OF OPTIONS!!" but Payne just laughs and goes out the door and there is big explosion outside, which sends Jack flying back.

Another good scene is when Jack is on the bus, he looks underneath the floor panel to check for the explosives while he talks to Harry on the phone, So, Jack looking under says to Harry (who one of the passengers, Doug, relays what he is saying) "OK! We've got a wad, pretty big!" and Doug says "We've got a pretty big wad". Jack then says "Brass fittings! I think I can reach the circuit wire!" and Harry says "Oh no, no, no! That's a decoy! Classic!" and Doug says to Jack "That's a classic decoy, what else?". So, Jack looks down further and sees a big set of C4 with a gold wrist watch attached to it and Jack says "Fuck me!" and Doug after a pause says "Oh darn!".  Jack get's back up and takes the phone off Harry and says "Harry, there's enough C4 on this bus to put a whole in the world!".

Then there is the scene where Annie asks Jack what Payne is after, so she says to Jack "What is the deal with this guy? Did we bomb his country or something?" and Jack says "No, he just wants money". Annie then says "Really? Its not a very good way to make money" and Jack says "Its a game, if he get's the money he wins, if the bus blows up, he wins". and Annie asks "What if you win?" and Jack says "Then tomorrow we'll play another one" and Annie smiles and says "But I'm not available to drive tomorrow. Busy".

Then there is the scene where Jack tries to go underneath the bus to diffuse the bomb and he has no success as he can't bypass the explosives as it will fire, so as he tries to get out, debris from the tyres knocks of trailer he lies on off its axis and he ends up puncting the fuel tank to cling on. So, as Ortiz on the bus opens the floor panel with his tools, he pulls Jack up from beneath and Doug asks him "Did you have any luck with the bomb?" and Jack says "Yeah, it didn't go off" and Ortiz says "You're not too bright man, but you've got some big hairy cojones!" and Jack says "That is VERY gross, Ortiz!". 

And then we have the scene where (SPOILER!!) after Harry is killed on discovering Payne's home is wired with explosives, Payne calls Jack to gloat. So, on taking the call, Jack says "Harry, give me good news, man!" and Payne says "Oh, I'm sorry, Jack he didn't make it!" and Jack after a beat furiously says "You FUCK!!". So, Payne teasingly says to Jack "I thought it was a bit hammy to build a bomb out of my retirement gift, but I thought having a sign saying "Howard Payne" would be pushing it" and Jack then boiling says "I'm gonna rip out your fucking spine, I swear to God!". 

So, after Payne tells Jack to drops the money for him in Pershing square and gloats at 11am "Its going to be a very pretty day!" Jack hangs up and furiously smashes his cell phone and shouts out in rage. However, after he calms down, he suddenly notices something on Annie's top, which says "Wildcats Arizona". So, Jack says to Annie "Arizona Wildcats, pretty good football team" and Annie not getting it says "Guess so" and Jack says quietly "He can see you" and he looks around for a camera and he spots it on the roof above the windscreen.  Jack then shakes his head in realisation and says "He called you a wildcat before but I didn't pick up on it. Bastard's got a camera right in your face, he can see the whole bus. He's been playing me from minute one". So, Annie asks "Can hear me too?" and Jack says "Doesn't look like it, he's just watching you". 

Then there is the scene where Jack goes after Payne to the subway after Payne takes Annie hostage and straps her up with a bomb jacket. So, Jack as he sees the shape of someone, he shouts "FREEZE!!! Pop quiz, asshole! You have a hair trigger on the back of your head, what do you do?! Turn around! TURN AROUND!!!" and the figure turns around to reveal Annie wearing the bomb jacket and Jacks look on in horror and says "Oh no!". So, Payne then appears with the trigger and he says how a bomb that doesn't explode is like a cheap gold watch and Jack angrily says "You're crazy! You're fucking crazy!" and Payne says "No, poor people are crazy, Jack. I'M an eccentric!". 

Last of all is the scene Payne tries to open his bag of money, which is then ruined by a dye pack inside it, which sprays over his face and Payne yells at Jack, who is on the roof of the train and shoots at him above and he charges after Jack. So, as Payne goes on the roof of the train and fights Jack, he says to him "I;m smarter than you!" and Jack pushes Payne's head up just before a signal light hits and decapitates Payne, who's body falls off the train roof and Jack gasps and says "Yeah?! Well I'm taller!". So, after this, Jack heads down into the train and rushes up to Annie to diffuse the bomb and she asks "What happened to Payne" and Jack tells her "He lost his head". 

Dennis Hopper next up is excellent in his role as the crazy bomber, Howard Payne, who rigs a bus with explosives in an order to extort money for himself from the city. 

Hopper also has pletny of good scenes worth note, such as the one where Payne detonates the elevator he has rigged at the start and he says "Don't fuck with Daddy!" and he hits the detonator and the lift falls. So, after the passangers are saved, Jack and Harry finally locate Payne's lift, which sees Payne use a shotgun to shoot down Harry and he forces Jack to jump down as he makes the elevator go up. So, as Jack drops down into the elevator, Payne holds his shotgun at aim and says "I don't suppose anyone will give me 3 million just for you!" and he pulls the trigger and it clicks and Jack takes the from him as Payne holds Harry, carrying his detonator. 

So, Payne says to Jack "Pop quiz, hotshot! Terrorist has a hostage and enough C4 to destroy a building, what do you do?" and Jack says "There's gonna be 50 cops waiting for you in the basement" and Payne says "Oh, standard flanking deployment, we'll get off on the 3rd floor, at least that's what they'll think!" and he presses a button, giving a fake reading. So, as they arrive instead in the undergound parking area, Payne says "Well, this day has been pretty disappointing I have to say" and Jack says "Why? Cos, you didn't get to kill everyone?!" and Payne says "There will come a time, boy, where you wish you never met me!" and Jack says "Mister, I'm already there!". Payne then asks Harry "You ready to die, friend?" and Harry says "Fuck you!" and Payne says "Oh! In 200 years, we've come "I regret I have one life to give for my country to fuck you?!". Harry then dares Payne "Drop the stick!" and Payne almost admiringly says "Oh, we've got all the balls in the world here, man!!" Harry then says to Jack "Shoot the hostage" and Payne says "Say goodbye, Harry!" and Jack shoots him in the thigh much to Payne's surprise before he runs out laughing and we see a big explosion.

Then there is the scene where Payne destroys a bus to get Jack's attention the day after he get's his medal on TV. So, as a nearby payphone rings, Jack answers it and we see Payne on a cell phone in his car and he asks Jack "What do you think, Jack? If you pick up all the bus driver's teeth, you think they will give you another medal?". Jack angrily says "When I found you..." and Payne says "Oh, pop quiz, hotshot! There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus get's to 50 miles per hour, the bomb is armed. If the bomb drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?!" and Jack says "I'd wanna know which bus it was". Payne then says "Very good, now there are rules, Jack. NO ONE get's off the bus! If you try to take any passengers off the bus, I will detonate it. I want my money by 11am". Jack then says "We can't pull that kind of money in time" and Payne tells him "FOCUS Jack! Your concern is the bus. And try and call, the radio is down". 

Another good scene is when Jack asks Payne to get off the bus for a moment to speak to his Captain and he tells Payne "I need to speak with these people, they think you are bullshit!" and Payne resentfully says "They don't think that!". Jack then says "I just want to get off for just a minute" and Payne "OK, but I want you back REAL fast! Oh, and Jack nothing tricky now! You know I'm ontop of you. DO NOT attempt to grow a brain!" and he hangs up.

Then there is the scene where after Harry is killed by a bomb trap set in Payne's own home, after they tracked his home location (but find he's not there) Payne calls Jack to tell him the news. So, in the scene,, Jack answers the call "Harry, tell me good news, man!" and Payne says "Oh, I'm sorry, Jack, but he didn't make it" and Jack after a beat furiously says "You FUCK!!". Payne then teases Jack and says "It was the watch that lead him to me, wasn't it? I thought it was a bit hammy building a bomb out of my retirement gift but I thought a sign saying "Howard Payne" was pushing it". Payne then tells Jack to drop his money off at Pershing square and he says "Its getting on to 11 am, Jack and I think its going to be a very pretty day!" and he laughs and hangs up.

Another notable scene is where Payne has Annie wired up with a bomb jacket in the subway and Payne says "Be prepared! This is the boy scout marching song!" and Payne looks at Jack with his gun trained on him and Payne says "What are you doing, Jack? I don't think you can shoot her". Payne then goes on about his bomb "A bomb is made to explode. That's its meaning. Its purpose. Your life is empty because you spend it trying to stop the bomb from becoming. And for who? For what? You know what a bomb is, Jack, that doesn't explode? It's a cheap gold watch, buddy!". Jack, disgusted says "You're crazy! You're fucking crazy!" and Payne says "Poor people are crazy, Jack! I'm an eccentric".

Last of all is the scene where on the subway train, Payne hears Jack moving on the roof and he says "Hey, Jack, is that you?! He's so persistant, he always get's his man! I wouldn't be able to interest in a bribe, would I? I've got plenty to go around!". However, as Payne opens his bag of money, the dye pack explodes inside and a purple goes over his face and shocked he says "My money!" and he angrily grabs his machine gun and shoots at it at the roof yelling "YOU BASTARD! HOW DOES THAT FEEL?! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, YOU BASTARD?!!". So, when he runs out of ammo, he grabs his detonator and runs for the roof "I'm coming for you, JACK!! AGHHHHHHH!!!!".

So, in the next scene, Payne climbs onto the roof and grabs Jack and hits him in the face with his detonator and he says "I'm the guy with a plan, you know why? Cos, I'm smarter than you! I'm SMARTER!". However, as Jack pushes Payne's head up, Payne suddenly sees a signal light, which ends up decapitating him and his body falls off the roof and Jack gasps for breath and says "Yeah? Well, I'm taller!". 

Sandra Bullock is also really good in her role as Annie, the spirited passenger, who drives the bus armed with explosives, although her voice does get a little bit grating when she shouts at times.

As for Sandra's notable scenes, for starters there is the one where Annie takes over driving the bus and she asks Jack "So, you're a cop right?" and Jack says "That's right" and Annie says "Well, I should probably tell you that I'm taking the bus because I had my driver's license revoked" and Jack asks "For what?" and Annie says "Speeding".

Then there is the scene where Annie asks Jack about Payne "So, what is this guy's deal? Did we bomb his country, or something?" and Jack says "No, he just wants money" and Annie says "Funny, that's not a very good way to make money". Jack then tells Annie "A while back, I stopped him when he wired an elevator with some passengers and he's a little pissed at me". Annie then asks "So, what has this got to do with us?" and Jack says "Its a game, he get's the money, he wins, if he blows up the bus, he wins" and Annie asks "What if you win?" and Jack says "Then tomorrow we play another one" and Annie says "But I'm not available to drive tomorrow. Busy".

Another scene is when one of the passengers, Helen, is killed as she trires to step off the bus and Annie tearfully says to Jack "When that bomb off, I thought I was dead and..." and Jack says "...and you were glad you were still alive" and she says "Yeah". Jack tells her then "She was a nice and she didn't deserve to get killed but if she got off that bus, it would have killed us all. He's the asshole, Annie, remember that, he's the one that put us here" and Annie says "Big asshole!".

Then there is the funny scene where after Jack steps off the bus for a few minutes and they wait for him tio come back, Ortiz goes up to Annie and says to her "I'm telling you honey, he's jerking off somewhere". So, Annie tells Ortiz "He didn't have to get on the bus, in the first place, Ortiz" and she looks at him and says "Hey, get your ass behind the yellow line!" and Ortiz steps back from the drawn yellow line.

And then there is the scene (SPOILER!!) where after Jack successfully get's all the passengers off the bus safely and he and Annie escape the bus using the floor compartment to slide out underneath the bus, they lie together as Annie tries to recover herself. So, Jack comforts Annie and says "Annie, its OK, its over" and Annie after a moment says "You aren't gonna get all mushy on me, are you?" and Jack smiles and says "Maybe". Annie then tells Jack "I hope not, cause you know, relationships under intense circumstances, they never last" and Jack says "Yeah?" and Annie says "Yeah, I've done extensive study on this". 

Last of all is the final scene (SPOILER!) where Jack and Annie sruvive the out of control subway train and they lie together afterward. So, Annie touched says "You didn't leave me" and Jack smiles "I didn't have anywhere to be just then!" and they kiss and Jack tells her "I have to warn you, I've heard relationships based on intense experiences never work" and Annie says "OK. We'll have to base it on sex then" and Jack smiles and says "Whatever you say, ma'am" and they kiss again as a large crowd gathers outside the subway train, which is now landed on the street.

Jeff Daniels next, is great in his role as Harry, Jack's fellow LAPD team member and bomb expert, who helps him try and defeat Payne. 

So, Jeff has plenty of scenes worth mentioning including the one where after Jack and Harry manage to rescue the passengers from the bomb elevator, sit down in relief. So, as they sit there, Jack asks about Payne "Is your watch slow?" and Harry says "No, he jumped the gun, we still had 3 minutes left" and Jack asks "Why? He's losing his 3 million" and Harry says "I don't know, maybe he couldn't hold his wad long enough. Its a common problem among middle age men, so I'm told". Jack then has a thought and get's up and says "He's here" but Harry says "He could have blown that thing from Pacoima!" and Jack says "No, he's here, he knew we were up to something". So, Harry after a beat says "Alight, he'd wanna be but he'd have to say mobile. The elevators?" and Jack says "Passenger cars were stopped, they checked out" and Harry asks "What about the freight elevators?" and Jack points and then go off to check.

Then there is the scene where Jack and Harry get their medals on TV and while they await them, Harry quietly stands next to Jack says to him quietly "I can't they are giving you a medal for shooting me, you little prick!" and Jack says "Harry, you TOLD me to". So, then we see Jack and Harry go up and get their medals, with Harry carrying a cane, as he walks with a limp.

Another scene is when Jack and Harry celebrate with their team at a bar after the medal ceremony and Harry warns Jack about his future recklesness. So, Harry tells Jack "When are you gonna listen? Because I am not always gonna be there to back you up?" and Jack says "Hey come on, Harry, we got him" and Harry says "Guts will get you so far and then they'll get you killed. Luck always runs out" and he get's up unsteadily and says to Jack and their Captain, Mac "I'm gonna go home and have some sex" and Jack says "Harry, you're gonna go home and puke!" and Harry says "Yeah, well that will be fun too!".

Then there is the scene where Harry mulls over, what is going with Payne's methods of using explosives and he says "What is he saying? A watch is a shitty timer. Why use it?" and one of his team, Robin suggests "Lots of people have watches, Harry".  Harry then thinks out loud "This guy has no MO. Bombers fall in love with one kind of bomb and they're very monogamous. This guy uses C4, dynamite, a different trigger every time, now he throws in this watch". Robin then says "He's an encyclopedia, knows every kind of bomb" and Harry deflated says "Yeah, and everything we do to dismantle them". Harry then has a thought and says "Robin, I wanna look at the files" and Robin says "We did the mugshots already" and Harry says "No, I wanna look at cops". 

And last of all is the scene where Harry tries to guide Jack through disarming the bomb, as he lies underneath the moving bus on a platform attached to winch line. So, in the scene, Harry tells Jack the process and says "I want you to expose one of the wires but DON'T cut it" and Jack does so and says "Bullseye!". Harry then says "OK, so I want you to connect that wire to the battery" and Jack does so but it beeps and he says "I can't bypass it, it will fire!" and Harry says "Shit! Its a collapsable circuit". However, at that point, one, one of his team, Robin, comes with a profile of Payne and she says "Howard Payne, Atlanta PD bomb squad, he retired to Sun Valley in 1989 when a small charge left him fingers numbering nine!". So, Harry triumphantly shouts "THAT'S OUR SCUMBAG!" and he says to Jack "Jack, we've found him, we're gonna go after the source" and Jack warns him "Watch your back!". 

Joe Morton next up is also excellent in his role as Captain "Mac" MacMahon, who is the head of Jack's team and helps him out during the bus crisis and he does a great job at showing Mac's authority over his team.  

So, I will mention only a few of Morton's scenes, such as the one where Mac celebrates Jack and Harry's success in rescuing the passengers from the armed elevator at the start of the film. 

So, in the scene, Mac proposes a toast to Jack and Harry and he says to Harry "To, Harry, hears your bravery, quick thinking and grace under pressure and his selfless act" and then says to Jack "And to Jack, for shooting Harry! Something we've all wanted to do for a LONG time!" and Harry pushes Mac and says "Hey!".  Mac then says "No, to you guys for doing your job and not getting dead. Mozeltov!" and they clink glasses.

Then there is the scene where Mac is told there is a gap in the freeway, which the bus is driving on, much to Mac's annoyance. So, one of Mac's team says to him "Sir, we've got a serious problem. The freeway isn't finished!" and Mac looks at the map and says "But its on the map as finished, its on the goddamn map!" and the cop says "I guess they fell behind!" and Mac infuriated shouts "Fuck! You're fired! EVERYBODY'S FUCKIN FIRED!!". So, Mac asks "How big is the gap" and the cop says "50 feet! At least!". 

Last of all is the scene where Mac approaches Jack and Annie after they the bus has exploded and Jack introduces Mac to her "Mac, this is Annie, Annie meet Captain MacMahon". So, Mac says to Jack "Well, maybe I'll be a nice guy and let you have the rest of the day off". So, after this, Annie get's her wounds treated from being scraped by the moving platform after fleeing the bus and Jack is with Mac, so one of the cops says to Mac "Sir, that's the bomber, he wants to know when he's gonna get his money" and Mac angrily says "I'll tell him what he can do with his goddamn money!". So, as Mac takes the phone, Jack stops him and says of the bus "He doesn't know it blew up" and Mac says after a beat "5 minutes".

Alan Ruck next is also pretty good and amusing in his role as the somewhat dorky passenger, Doug Stevens, who get's on everybody's nerves with overly chatty personality. 

So, I will mention a few quick scenes, such as the one where Annie arrives on the bus and sits in the row infront of Doug's. So, he decides to try and chat with her and says "First time in LA" and Annie smiles and says "Oh, no, I live here" and Doug says "No, mine. That's funny, no you heard me wrong. I'm sight seeing". Annie then says "Oh really?" and Doug says "Yeah. I hate the word tourist but its not like I can hide it" and Annie rolls her eyes and says "Not really". Doug continues to try and make conversation and says "You know it took me three hours to get here from the airport? I got so lost! LA such a big place, God I sound like such a yokel. There I said it". Annie by now has heard enough and takes some of her chewing gum and spreads it and says "Look, I've got gum on my seat! Gum" and she get's up and moves to another seat.

Another scene is the one where Jack asks Doug to take his phone and tell Harry what Jack sees underneath the bus, as Jack checks for explosives. So, Jack looks under and says "OK, we've got a wad! Pretty big!" and Doug says to Harry "Its a pretty big wad" and Jack says "Brass fittings, I think I can reach the circuit wire" and Jack says "No, no, no! Don't do that, its decoy, classic!". Doug then says to Jack "That's a classic decoy, what else?" and Jack takes a further look below and finds a lot of C4 attached with a gold watch leaving Jack shocked and saying "Fuck me!" and Doug after a pause says "Oh darn!". 

Then we have the moment where Annie is forced to make a difficult tight turn invoving everyone having to go over to the right side of the bus to avoid it tipping over. So, after the bus successfully makes the turn, everyone celebrates with relief except a few like Helen, who panics "Oh my God, we could have died! I can't think!" so Doug as tactful as ever tries to reassure her by saying "Its OK, if you want to, you can go ahead and vomit". Jeeez, this guy is a clown. :-P  

Then there is the scene where after the passenger, Helen is killed, the bus atmosphere becomes alot more grim and tense. So, Doug sits quietly and with a grim look says "I can't be here, I can't...this is the wrong bus. I can't die here" and Ortiz in front of him, says "Hey shut up, man! I got a wife!". So, as another passenger joins in and says "Hey, so if you have a wife and I don't, does that I'm expendable?!" and Ortiz says "He just get's on my nerves" and Doug says "Hey, I think I've got a right to feel upset!" and they argue more until Jack interrupts them. 

Last of all is the scene where the bus is at the airport, and Jack is about to step off and one of the passengers asks if the police will help them and Doug offers a not so sutble reply. So, the passenger asks "Are they going to help us?" and Doug says "Sure they are, they're the police. Hey, your taxes are paying their salaries, if we die, they have to take a pay cut. I mean you know..." as the bus passengers just look at him. 

Last of all is Carlos Carrasco as Ortiz, one of the passengers, who is somewhat hotheaded but does his best to help out when he can during the crisis.

So, I will mention a couple of his scenes, such as the one where just after the passenger Helen is killed on the bus, leaving them all devastated and shaken. So, as Doug says "I can't die here", Ortiz snaps and says to him "Hey man, shut up! I've got a wife!" and one of the other passengers pitches in "So, if you've got a wife and I don't, does that make me expendable?!". Ortiz then says "What are you talking about? The guy is just talking crazy, he's just getting on my nerves".  Doug then says "Oh, yeah? Well I think have a right to be upset after all we've been through..." and Ortiz snaps back "What are you staring at everybody for?! Why don't you just let us all die in peace, that's what is going to happen!". 

Then there is the scene where Jack is going to step off the bus to talk Mac about dealing with Payne much to the surprise of the passengers. So, Jack tells the bus "Just sit tight, I'm gonna get for a minute" and one of the passengers, Mrs Kamino asks "Do you think that's a good idea?" and Doug asks "Are you just gonna leave us here?" and Ortiz says to himself "I would!". 

And last of all is the scene where Jack is under the bus and after failing to disarm the bomb, he struggles to cling onto the platform and puncutres the fuel tank in an effort to cling on underneath. So, Ortiz uses his tools (as he's presumably a construction worker of sorts) to open the floor compartment to pull him up and he looks under and says "I see him! He's alright!!". So, Ortiz reaches for Jack and says "Its OK! I got you!" and he pulls Jack up with a struggle and Ortiz says to him "You're not too bright, man, but you've got some big round hairy cojones!". So, as Jack get's up on his feet he says "That's very gross, Ortiz!" and Ortiz laughs and says "Hey! Can't even pay the guy a compliment!".  

DIRECTOR

So, finally moving onto the director, Jan de Bont, who before this was primarily a cinemaphotographer who worked on films such as Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October and Basic Instinct, and here he does a great job with cranking up the film's suspense. Jan de Bont also confidently handles the film's action sequences such as trying to rescue the elevator passengers to Harry and Jack confronting Payne and to the trials and triabulations of the bus passengers. De Bont himself agreed to direct the film after it was turned by John McTiernan, the director of Die Hard and despite never having directed before this, the results are really solid from De Bont. De Bont would go onto direct the sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control, which starred Sandra Bullock but was unfortunately a critical and commercial failure by contrast.

MUSIC 

As for the music score, it was by American composer, Mark Mancina and overall its a pretty good one that fits the tone of the film perfectly but does have a somewhat dated feel to it as it is very 90s sounding. The score's theme is also pretty memorable and it also has a very memorable and actually often used music cue in the scene where Jack and Annie escape the bus. De Bot had chosen Mancina to do the score as he had scored several action films previously and Mancina would go on to score films such as Bad Boys, Twister and Training Day.

FLAWS

As for flaws...yes Speed has a few worth mentioning.

For, starters, it has to be said one of the flaws most worthy of pointing out is to do with the bus making that gap jump over 50 feet, which is frankly ridiculous to suggest it would make it without actually missing the gap or even slowing down below 50 mph. In reality the bus simply would have nosedived and crashed below rather than sailed over the gap, also even if it did make it, the impact would most likely reduce the bus way below 50, leaving the bus to blow up. However, this is just one we need to chalk up to Hollywood licensing with reality! 

Another issue is to do with the notion of Payne being able to see Annie's top, which has the Arizona Wildcats logo on it, as his camera feed is pretty poor and low resolution, not to mention in black and white. Plus, the camera view is pretty wide, so it wouldn't have the telephoto reach to even zoom in and see her top that close either, so yeah its a pretty silly plot moment that doesn't make much sense. 

Then we have the scene where Harry and his team enter Payne's home address, only to find it deserted and he triggers a trip wire, blowing up the house and killing Harry and his team. Now, I have to say that Harry is a bit daft here, as he still had a few seconds to at least try and run out of there before he got killed in the blast but instead he just stands there like a dumbass rather than give himself any chance of survival by trying to run the hell out of there! In fact, the Youtube channel, Cinemasins took a sin of here because of Harry's reaction, as standing there bravely and accepting his fate, when I would have ADDED a sin for Harry not deciding to try and run the hell out of there first!! 

Then there is the moment where Payne says to drop off his money at a drop point in Pershing square (which is a small public park in Downtown L.A.) which is waste disposal bin, however beneath is a hole in the ground. Now, presumably, Payne was the one who drilled the hole himself but how did he do that without being seen or anyone noticing him do it? Either that, or he went there after midnight but even then, L.A. subways tend to run until 2am, so the notion of Payne getting away with this is pretty unlikely.

And then there is the scene where the bus explodes and I just wondered, doesn't Payne have anything to tell him that his bomb went off? On looking this up, Payne should or could have had something like a remote detonator feedback light, indicating when the bomb had exploded but instead Payne purely relies on the news feeds on the incident instead rather than anything like that. Or just maybe even for a man, who claims to be that smart, just didn't think far ahead here! 

Then we have the scene where Payne shoots the subway train driver and he damages the instruments of the train in the process, however in reality, the train itself would have stopped once the driver had been killed as a safety precaution. Also, its pretty silly of Payne to even shoot this up in the first place with no real way of stopping the train in the context of the film regardless.

And last of all is the scene where Payne attacks Jack up on the roof of the subway train as he hits him in the face several times with his detonator. Now, what if he somehow triggered the detonator in doing this? Again it highlights how demented Payne is here and naturally if he triggers the detonator then they're all dead. However, I guess given his plan had gone tits up at this point, Payne no longer cared and wanted to take out his anger on Jack regardless of him blowing themselves up or not!   

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Speed after 32 years, still remains a highly entertaining and suspenseful action film, which has some great action setpieces and its concept of a bomb on a bus, while not revolutionary, does add a neat twist to it with the bomb going off at a certain speed. The performances are also pretty solid overall, with Keanu Reeves in good form in the lead role, as well as a career establishing role from Sandra Bullock, who is also very good in addition to Dennis Hooper, who is excellent as the villain, Howard Payne. Jan De Bont also does a very good job in his directorial debut after being a cinematographer for many years prior to this. 

And yes there are a few plot holes here and there but they aren't enough to really detract from the enjoyment of the film and even over 30 years on, Speed is still worth a revisit.

So, I will rate Speed:

9 out of 10

So, that's it for this post and I might not do one before the end of the month but I will be back soon with another.

Unti then its bye for now! 

 

Pulp Fiction Review (Revisited Again!) - "God came down from heaven and stopped the bullets!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, now we are into February, its about time I did another review, so this one will be yet another revisit (again, I am lazy!) and will be on the Tarantino sophomore film (as the Americans might say!) Pulp Fiction. I've already reviewed this one in recent years, so I will try and add a few bits here and there but also tidy up one or two sections as well.

So, with that said, let's take another look at this modern classic some 32 years on from its release... 

And the usual is coming up.... 

PLOT SPOILERS WILL BE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the plot is told in a typically non-linear fashion for writer/director Quentin Tarantino and is split across two main stories with some subplots and the first one features hitman Vincent Vega (Travolta) who goes on a job with his partner Jules Winfield (Jackson) to retrieve a briefcase from some young associates lead by Brett (Frank Whaley) who unwisely tried to rip off Vincent and Jules's boss, Marsellus Wallace (Vingh Rhames).  In the ensuing scene after they have killed the guys, Vincent accidentally kills one of their associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr) by shooting him in the head while Jules is driving.  After that Jule's calls his local friend Jimmie for help (played by Tarantino himself) and Marsellus who sends one of his business associates Mr Wolf (Harvey Keitel), who "solves problems" and aids in cleaning up their mess for them.

The other story follows Vincent, who is asked by Marsellus to take out his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) one night on the town while he is away on business.  As the two of them have a good night out, and share a steak, burger, and take part in a twist contest, at a "wax museum with a pulse" 1950s style diner.  But when they go back to Mia's place, Mia accidentally overdoses on Vincent's heroin baggie, thinking it to be cocaine.  At this point Vincent in a panic takes Mia over to his drug dealer, Lance (Eric Stoltz) from whom he bought the heroin, which leads into the infamous "needle" scene where Vincent brings Mia round with an adrenaline shot.

The next big story is the "Golden Watch" where a boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) who is coming to the end of his career and is being forced to take a dive in his fight by Marsellus.  But Butch has other ideas and ends up winning the fight, unintentionally killing his opponent in the process and plans to flee with his girlfriend and the winnings he made from the bookies who placed bets on him.

However as Butch and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) plan their departure, Butch notices that Fabienne neglected to pick up his precious golden watch, which was given to him as a present from a soldier (Christopher Walken) who was entrusted the watch given to him by Butch's dad.  Enraged by Fabienne's failure to pick up the watch, Butch decides, with little choice, to go back to get the watch.  So as Butch goes back to his apartment to pick up the watch he proceeds to have the "weirdest fucking day of his life" as he rightly puts it.

Lastly the film concludes with Vincent and Jules having breakfast in a coffee house where they have a deep conversation about the freaky encounter they witnessed at Brett's apartment, when a gunman fired six bullets straight at them and they all missed.  Not long after two thieves, Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) hold up the coffee shop (whilst Vincent is in the bathroom) but as Pumpkin approaches Jules to get his wallet, the thief gets more than he bargained for as it leads into the film's surprising climax.

THOUGHTS 
  
It has to be said that Pulp Fiction remains one of the most seminal and highly entertaining films of the last 30 years, which really established that Tarantino was not a one-trick pony and that he could continue to craft excellent films.  Tarantino's script for the most part is wonderfully written and is filled with rich (and very profane) dialogue which is highly memorable as well as quotable.  And its Tarantino's emphasis on the characters is what helps Pulp Fiction work so well as they are all very drawn out.  Vincent as the main character in the film, is both dim and smart at the same time, as he holds a rather stubborn view of life, but at key moments isn't the brightest of sparks (especially leaving his machine gun outside the bathroom, in the scene where Butch faces off him with his gun).

Jules on the other hand is much brighter, cockier and smarter, and as he and Vincent face certain death at one point in the film, Jules is smart enough to realise that at this point, this probably isn't the life for him.  And its most likely Jules decision after his dice with death that would go on to save him from a similar fate than Vincent's.  In the final scene Jules also helps the two coffee shop robbers (from the opening scene) to escape unharmed, as prior to that he would have just killed them.

Mia is also a really good character as she is smart enough to know that her husband is protective of her, but she can look after herself.  And Mia's close call with death also, provides a chance for Vincent to be the good guy and save her, although he wouldn't stand a chance in hell if she died on him.  There's almost a fine line between Mia also flirting and going a step further with Vincent, but Quentin sensibly doesn't let it go that far, although in a later scene its implied they have been seeing each other behind Marsellus's back.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and very strong language!) 

As for the performances, well the film features a star cast that are all on top form.  

Starting with John Travolta who's career was totally revitalized here as he superbly plays the part of the hitman Vincent Vega, who gets into hot water when he unwittingly blows the head off a business associate and also has to try and save his boss's wife from overdosing on his own heroin.

Travolta has numerous highlights in the film such as his opening scene where he talks with Jules about the subtle differences between the cultures of America, Paris and Amsterdam.  And in the scene Jules says "Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?" and Jules asks "Don't they call it a quarter pounder with cheese?" and Vincent says "No they've got the metric system they wouldn't know what the fuck a quarter pounder is.  They call it the Royale with cheese".  And of course when Jules asks him "What do they call a whopper?" Vincent says "I dunno.  I didn't go into Burger King".

Then there is the scene where Vincent teases Jules about giving foot massages and says "Would you give a guy a foot massage?  I'm little tired I could do with a foot massage myself!".  And as Jules tells Vincent it wasn't right that Marcellus threw Tony "Rocky Horror" out of a window for giving Mia a foot message, Vincent responds.  So, Vincent tells Jules " Now look, I've given a million ladies a million foot massages, and they all meant something. We act like they don't, but they do, and that's what's so fucking cool about them. There's a sensuous thing going on where you don't talk about it, but you know it, she knows it, fucking Marsellus knew it, and Antwon should have fucking better known better. I mean, that's his fucking wife, man. He can't be expected to have a sense of humor about that shit!". 

And later as he fights the temptation to try anything on with Mia after their dinner, he talks to himself in the bathroom mirror at her place and says "You see, this is a real test to see if you can prove loyality, which is very important".  And then after he says to himself "So what you're gonna do is go out there and say "I had a lovely evening" get in the car, go home, jerk off, and that's all your gonna do!".

And later the scene where Vincent desperately drives Mia over to Lance's place and drags her unconscious body out the car, despite Lance's protests "you are not to bring this fucked up bitch into my house!".  And Vincent let's her drop to the ground and says "This fucked up bitch is Marsellus Wallace's wife!  Do you know who Marsellus Wallace is???  Now if she croaks on me I'm a fuckin grease spot! Now I will forced to tell him that you let her die on your fuckin lawn, so please help me get her up!".

And later after they shoot the gunman in Brett's apartment, Vincent kneels down and asks Marvin "Why the fuck didn't you tell us about the guy in the bathroom?  Did it slip your mind?  Did you forget there was someone in there with a goddamn hand cannon?!".  And as Jules insists it was "divine intervention" that has kept them alive from being killed by the hail of bullets, Vincent tells him "Do you wanna continue this theological discussion in the car, or at the jailhouse with the cops?!".  

Another good scene is when Jules tells Vincent what he intends to do with his life after choosing to quite being a hitman and Vincent calls him a bum. So, Vincent says "So, you decided to be a bum?" and Jules says "I'll Jules, Vincent, no more, no less" and Vincent says "No, you decided to be a bum, just like those pieces of shit that beg for change and eat what I throw away. They got a name for that, Jules and that's a bum and without a job, residence or legal tender, that's what your gonna be, man, you're gonna be a fuckin bum!". 

Vincent then refers to back to their freak incident with the gunman in the bathroom missing them completely and Vincent tells Jules "Jules, what happened this morning was peculiar I agree but water into wine..." and Jules says "All shapes and sizes, Vincent" and Vincent shaken says "Don't fuckin talk to me that way man!". Jules then says "If my answers frighten you, Vincent you should cease asking scary questions!". Vincent after a pause then announces "I'm gonna take a shit" and he gets up and says to Jules "When did you make this decision? While you were sitting there eating that muffin?" and Jules says "Yeah, I played the incident in my head when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity" and Vincent says "Fuck! To be continued" and he walks off.

And lastly one of my favourite lines from Travolta is during the robbery of the diner and as Jules is about to give his money to Pumpkin he warns him "Jules if you give that fuckin nimrod 1500 dollars I'm gonna shoot him on general principle!". And in the final moment when the robbery has been diffused, Jules takes his wallet back and Vincent says quietly to him "I think we should be leaving now" and Jules says "Yeah, that's probably a good idea!".

Samuel L Jackson next up, who made his breakthrough with this role, is simply terrific in his role as the philosophical hitman, Jules Winfield, who decides to turn a new leaf after his incident at Brett's apartment when retrieving Marsellus's case. Jackson himself was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance but he lost out to Martin Landau's performance in Ed Wood.

Jackson has so many highlights in the film as well as priceless dialogue its hard to name them all but I will mention a few.  The first being the scene where Jules and Vincent arrive at Brett's apartment and he asks Brett if he can take a bite of his burger and he does so and says "This IS a tasty burger!" followed by "Do you know what they call a quarter pounder in France?" and he tells Brett its a Royale with cheese and why and as Brett says "Because of the metric system?" Jules says "Check out the big brain on Brett! You're a smart motherfucker, that's right! The metric system!".

And later in the scene he taunts Brett just before he shoots him and asks "What does Marsellus Wallace look like?!" leaving Brett a stuttering wreck who keeps saying "What?" and Jules's short fuse is about to reach the limit and he points the gun at him saying "Say what again?!  I dare you!  I double dare you, motherfucker!  Say what one more goddamn time!".   And this is of course is followed by his famous Ezekiel 25:7 passage from the bible, which he finishes by shouting "And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee!" before unloading into Brett.

Then there are some priceless Jackson moments in the "Bonnie Situation" story line, such as when the gunman bursts out of Brett's bathroom and opens fire on Jules and Vincent but all the bullets miss.  And Jules looks down at the dead gunman, after they shoot him, and he says "Did you see the size of the gun he fired at us?  It was bigger than him!".  And as Jules looks at the bullet holes in the wall he says "We should be fuckin dead, man" and Vincent says "Yeah, I know, we were lucky" and Jules says "No, this shit wasn't luck, this was divine intervention.  Do you know what divine intervention is?".  And Vincent, humouring Jules says "I think so.  It means that God came down from heaven and stopped the bullets?" and Jules says "That's exactly what it means.  God came down from heaven and stopped these motherfuckin' bullets!". 

And one of Jackson's funniest moments comes in the scene where Jules and Vincent have to clean out the blood stained car and Jules groans in despair as he cleans out bits of skull and blood "Oh, man!  I will never forgive your ass for this shit!  This is some fucked up repugnant shit!".  And when Vincent tries to say "When a man admits all his wrongdoings he is immediately forgiven" Jules says "Get the fuck out of my face with that shit!  The motherfucker that said that shit didn't have to pick up ity-bity pieces of brain and skull on account of your dumb ass!".

And when Vincent says how is "ready to blow" this is finally followed by "Well, I'm a mushroom cloud layin' motherfucker, motherfucker!  Every time my fingers touch brain I'm Superfly TNT!  I'm the guns of the Navarone!  In fact what the fuck am I doing in the back?!  YOU'RE the motherfucker that should be on brain detail!  We're fuckin' switching!  I'm washin' windows and you're picking this n*****'s dead skull!".

And lastly when Jules grabs Pumpkin he tries to chill out Honeybunny (or Yolanda) by saying "We're gonna be like three Fonzies!  And what's Fronzie like?" and Yolanda says "cool?" and Jules says "Correctamundo!".  And as Yolanda tells Jules to let Pumpkin go, Jules tells her "Yolanda, I thought you were going to be cool.  Now, when you yell at me that makes me nervous and when I get nervous, I get scared.  And when motherfuckers get scared that's when motherfuckers accidentally get shot!".  Then Jules negotiates with Pumpkin and gives him money so he doesn't have to "kill his ass" and he quotes the Ezekiel 25-17 bible passage and explains what he thinks it means.

So, Jules says to Pumpkin "I been sayin' that shit for years, and if you heard it, that meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some coldblooded shit to say to a motherfucker... before I popped a cap in his ass.  But I saw some shit this morning made me think twice. See, now I'm thinkin' maybe it means...you're the evil man, and I'm the righteous man, and Mr. 9-millimeter here, he's the shepherd...protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean... you're the righteous man, and I'm the shepherd, and it's the world that's evil and selfish. Now, I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth.  "The truth is...YOU'RE the weak and I'm the tyranny of evil men.  But I'm tryin, Ringo.  I'm trying real hard....to be the shepherd!" and he lowers his gun and let's Pumpkin and Honeybunny go. And after they go, Vincent quietly walks up to Jules and says "I think we should be leaving now" and Jules says "Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea!" and they both leave.  

Uma Thurman is also excellent in her role as Mia Wallace, Marsellus's alluring wife who has dinner with Vincent and their scenes together provide a nice chemistry between them both.

Uma's notable moments all take place mainly at Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant, so I will start with the scene where Vincent at the diner with Mia, asks her about the incident with Tony and Marsellus.  And Mia asks him "So, did you think of something to say?" and Vincent says "Actually, I did.  However you seem like a nice person and I don't want to offend you" and Mia, surprised says "Ooohh! This doesn't sound like the usual, mindless, boring, gettin'-to-know-you chitchat. This sounds like you actually have somethin' to say".  And when Vincent asks her if Tony ever gave Mia a foot massage, she replies "Only thing Antwan ever touched of mine was my hand when he shook it... at my wedding.  Truth is, nobody knows why Marsellus threw Tony out that window... except Marsellus and Tony. When you little scamps get together, you're worse than a sewing circle!".

Then there is the moment where the Jack Rabbit Slim twist contest takes place and Mia wants to dance but Vincent is having none of it but Mia insists. And as Ed Sullivan look-a-like announces "Now who will be our first contestants?" Mia puts her hand and says "Right here!" And Vincent looks horrified and Mia says "Wanna dance" but Vincent quietly says "No, no, no, no, no". Mia however cuts him off and firmly says "No, no, no, no, no, no! I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband and your boss told you take to ME out and do whatever I wanted! Now I wanna dance, I wanna win, I want that trophy, so dance good!". 

Then there is the scene just after they dance, we see that they won the trophy as they dance into Mia's place and they share a laugh and an awkward moment where Vincent asks "Is that what you call an uncomfortable silence?" and Mia says "I don't know WHAT you call it!". Mia then quickly snaps out of her reverie and says "Music! Drinks!" and Vincent smiles and says "I'm gonna take a piss" and as Mia prepares to play something on her eight track, she says "That's a littttttle bit more information then I needed, Vincent but go right ahead!".

And after Mia has her harrowing near death experience and is saved bt Vincent she wearily asks him if he wants to hear a joke she told on the TV pilot she did.  And in the scene Mia asks him "Vincent, do you wanna hear my Fox Force Five joke?" and Vincent says "Maybe but I'm still a little too petrified to laugh" and Mia says "No, you want laugh because its not funny but if you wanna hear it, I'll tell it" and Vincent says "I can't wait". So, Mia tells the joke "A daddy tomato, a mommy tomato and a baby tomato cross the street.  The baby tomato starts lagging behind, the daddy tomato gets angry goes back and squishes him and says "Ketchup!" and Vincent smiles a little. Mia then looks at Vincent and says "See you around" and she walks off and Vincent blows her a kiss. 

Bruce Willis also puts in a good performance as the troubled boxer, Butch Coolidge, who is haunted by nightmares involving a soldier who hands Butch his late father's watch, who died in Vietnam and later on goes on the run from Marcellus Wallace as he ends up killing the boxer in his fight.

Willis play the part with his usual type of coolness combined with some hot tempered moments, which we see in the scene where he frantically looks through his suitcase for his father's watch, which his girlfriend Fabienne has forgotten.  And he says to Fabienne "That was my father's fucking watch.  Do you have any idea what he went through to get that watch??  I don't have time to go into it but it was alot!".  And Butch continues "All this other shit you could've set on fire, but I specifically reminded you not to forget the fucking watch! Now think!  Did you get it?" and Fabienne nervously says "I think so".  However, Butch now angry says "You believe so???!"  What the fuck does that mean??!  You either did or didn't get it!!" and Fabienne says "Then I did" and Butch asks again "You sure?" and Fabienne, frightened says "No".

So, then Butch explodes in a rage, yelling "FUCK!  FUCK!!! FUCK!!! MOTHERFUCKER!!!" and he starts leaping up and down and he grabs the motel room TV and smashes it and yells "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING STUPID YOU ARE???!!".  However Butch then regains his composure and shouts "NO!  It's not your fault. You left it at the apartment. If you left it at the apartment, it's not your fault. I had you bring a bunch of stuff. I reminded you about it, but I didn't illustrate how personal the watch was to me".  And after he leaves and reassures Fabienne, we cut to him in his car and he pounds the steering wheel angrily, shouting "SHIT!! OF ALL THE FUCKING THINGS SHE COULD FUCKING FORGET, SHE FORGETS MY FATHER'S WATCH!!  I specifically reminded her!  Bedside table!  On the kangaroo!  I said the words "don't forget my father's watch!".   

And one of Willis's best moments is where after he and Marsellus have been captured by the rednecks in the pawnshop and he breaks free of his bonds and he decides to save Marsellus.  So, Butch rummages through the pawnshop for a weapon to rescue Marcellus with and he picks up a samurai sword (a katana) and goes downstairs and exacts some revenge on the rednecks.  And in the scene, Butch skewers one of the rednecks and then points the katana at the other, Z, and he notices a gun on a table near him and he says to Z "You want that gun, don't you, Zed?  Go ahead and pick it up!".  And as Z is tempted to pick it up, Butch says "Atta boy!  I want you to pick it up...Z!" but then Marsellus stands up behind Butch armed with a shotgun.....

And later when Marsellus let's Butch go he takes Z's chopper (Z is played by Peter Greene) and picks up Fabienne and he tells her "Honey, since I left you, this has been, without a doubt, the single weirdest fuckin' day of my life!".  And as Fabienne get's on the bike, she asks him "Who's motorcycle is this?" and Butch says "Its a chopper baby" and she says "Who's chopper is this?" and Butch says "Zed's?" Fabienne "Who's Zed?" and Butch says "Zed's dead, baby.  Zed's dead!" and they drive off.

Vingh Rhames is great as the crime boss, Marsellus Wallace who sends Vincent and Jules to retrieve a case containing something of great value (and has a golden glow) which we never see what it is and later on has a confrontation with Butch.

Rhames also has some good moments such as in his first scene where Marsellus talks to Butch and tells him "I think when this shit is all done and over, you're gonna find yourself one smilin motherfucker" as he tells Butch to take a dive in his fight.  And in ths scene, Marsellus holds out an envelope of money to Butch and he says to him "Are you my nigga?" and Butch takes the envelope and says "It would certainly appear so".  And Marsellus says to him "The night of the fight you might feel a slight sting.  That's pride fucking with you.  Fuck pride!  Pride only hurts, it never helps.  You fight through that shit.  Cause a year from now when you are kickin it on the Caribbean you're gonna say to yourself "Marsellus Wallace was right!".  

And later in the scene where Butch, driving his car, spots Marsellus cross the street, carrying a box of doughnuts and they look at each other and Marsellus shouts "Motherfucker!" and Butch puts the car into gear and runs him over only to crash into another car in the process. 

But later on Butch decides to save Marsellus during being raped by the rednecks, and Marcellus then takes the shotgun and blasts Zed's private parts to bits.  And as Butch asks him if he is OK, Butch says "Naw, man.  I'm pretty far from OK!".  And Butch asks Marsellus "What now?" and Marsellus says "Let me tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard, pipe-hittin' niggers...to go to work on the homes here...with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch"  And Marsellus shouts at Z, who writhes on the floor in agony, nursing what is left of his gentialia "You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight! I'm gonna get medieval on your ass!". 

So, Butch asks "I mean what now between me and you?" and Butch says "Oh, THAT what now.  I tell you now what between me and you.  There IS no me and you.  Not no more".  And Butch asks "So, we cool?" and Marsellus says "Yeah, we cool.  Two things: Don't tell nobody about this.  This shit is between me, you and soon to be living the rest of his short ass life in agonising pain, rapist here, it nobody else's business". 

And lastly there is the scene where Jules make a call to Marsellus about the "Bonnie" situation and what can the do to resolve it. So, in the scene Marsellus on the phone to Jules says re: Bonnie "If she comes what do you think she'll do?" and there is a beat as Jules replies and Marsellus "Yeah no fucking shit she'll freak. I mean how much? A lot or a little?". And as Jules anxiously explains that if Bonnie catches them trying to shift Marvin's body when she comes home "there aren't no telling what she is a liable to do!".

So, Marsellus says "I know that, Jules. All I'm doing is contemplating the ifs" which prompts Jules to snap back "I don't wanna hear about no motherfuckin ifs! All I wanna hear from your ass is "You aint got not problem, Jules! I'm on the motherfucker! Go back in there and chill those niggers out and wait for the cavalry, which should be coming directly!". So, Marsellus calmly replies "You aint got not problem, Jules. I'm on the motherfucker. Go back in there and chill those niggers out and wait for the Wolf, who should be coming directly". Jules, surprised then asks "You sending the Wolf?" and Marsellus says "You feel better, motherfucker?" and Jule smiles and says "Shit, negro! That's all you had to say!". 

Eric Stoltz is also good in his role as Lance, the drug dealer who sells Vincent the heroin, which Mia later overdoses on and he takes the call from Vincent when Mia has OD'd he says to him on the phone "This is not my fuckin problem!  You fucked her up, you fuckin deal with this!  Are you talking to me on a cellular phone?!  I don't know you!  Prank caller, prank caller!" and hangs up.

And later when Vincent brings the OD'd Mia to Lance's place, the two of them squabble as Lance prepares the needle with adrenaline to resuscitate Mia.  And Lance says "Here, I'll you what to do" but Vincent refuses, saying "You're gonna give her the shot" and Lance insists "No, you're gonna give her the shot!" and they continue to argue.  So, Lance finally says "I never done this either! I ain't starting now! You brought her here. You give her the shot. The day I bring an O.D.ing bitch to your house, then I give her the shot!  Give her the shot!".

So, Vincent relents and takes the needle and uses a black marker to mark the point on Mia's chest where he is to inject the needle.  And Vincent says "All right, tell me what to do" and Lance says "Okay, you're giving her an injection of adrenalin straight to her heart. But she's got a breastplate... You gotta pierce through that. You gotta bring the needle down in a stabbing motion!" and Lance indicates a stabbing motion three times.  So, Vincent asks "So, I've got to stab her three times?" and Lance shouts "No, just stab her once! But it's gotta be hard enough to get through her breastplate into her heart. Once you do that, you p-press down on the p-plunger".  And Vincent asks "OK, then what happens?" and Lance shrugs and says "I'm kinda curious about that myself" and Vincent angrily says "This is ain't no fuckin joke!  Am I gonna kill her?!" and Lance says "She's supposed to come out, just like that!".

Then after Vincent injects the needle in Mia, she suddenly is brought to life and screams out loud and Lance nervously asks her "If you're alright, then say something" and Mia looks a bit needle embedded in her chest and says "Something...." and Vincent and Lance sigh in relief. 

Harvey Keitel also provides an amusing performance as Winston Wolf, the problem solver who turns and sorts out the "Bonnie Situation" which refers to Jule's friend, Jimmy's wife, Bonnie who will come home from work any time. The character of Winston would of course later appear in a series of UK parody television adverts for Directline.com

And Harvey's best scene comes when Vincent disputes Winston's straight talking no-nonsense manner and says to him "A please would be nice" and Winston, taken aback asks "Come again?" and Vincent says "A please would be nice".  So, Winston tells Vincent "Get it straight, buster. I'm not here to say please. I'm here to tell you what to do. And if self-preservation is an instinct you possess, you'd better fuckin' do it and do it quick. I'm here to help. If my help's not appreciated, lotsa luck, gentlemen!".

So, Jules tries to step in to diffuse the tension and says "No, it ain't like that, Mr Wolf, you're help is definitely appreciated!" and Vincent says to Winston "Mr. Wolf, listen. I don't mean disrespect, okay? I respect you. I just don't like people barkin' orders at me that's all".  So, Winston says "If I'm curt with you, its because time is a factor.  I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you want to get out of this.  So pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the fuckin car!".

Another good scene is when Winston gets Jimmie to get a bunch of blankets together to cover over the bloodied seats of Jules's car and Jimmie explains his concerns about his bedset being used as it belong to his Aunt Jenny. So, Winston in the scene asks "Let me ask you a question, Jimmie. Was your Aunt Jenny a millionaire?" and Jimmie says "No" and Winston tells him "Well, your Uncle Marsellus is and I'm positive he will furnish you with a whole new set". So, Winston takes out a wad of dollar bills and says to Jimmie "I like oak myself. How about you, Jimmie? Are you an oak man?" and Jimmie with little choice says "Oak's nice" and Winston starts counting out the money.

And last of all is the scene where Winston, Jules and Vincent successfully dispose of Marvin and the tainted car and they meet his girlfriend, Raquel. So, in the scene Winston offers them a ride but when they tell them where the live, Winston looks to the skies and says "Its your future...I see...a cab ride! Way out of the sticks, fellas!" and he says to Raquel "Say good night, Raquel" and she sarcastically repeats "Goodnight, Raquel!". Jules and Vincent then both thank Winston saying it was a pleasure to watch him work and Winston smiles and says "Call me Winston" and then he heads to his car with Raquel and says to her "You see young lady! That's respect! Respect shows character" and Raquel protests "I HAVE character!" and he tells her "Just because you ARE a character doesn't mean you HAVE character!". 

Christopher Walken who makes a cameo appearance in the film as the solider who gives Butch as a child, his father's watch, is also great and his long speech is nicely written and also pretty funny.

And of course there is funny moment where he tells the young Butch "The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned (in Walken's unique style!) if any slope's gonna put their greasy, yellow hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it in one place he knew he could hide something... his ass!  Five long years he wore this watch up his ass. Then he died of dysentery...He give me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then...after seven years, I was sent home to my family and...now...little man, I give the watch to you!".

Maria de Medeiros is also good in the film as Butch's girlfriend, Fabienne although it has to be said that she get's the worst of Tarantino's dialogue given that she has to say lines such as "Pot bellies are sexy!" and "I'm gonna order a big plate of blueberry pancakes... with maple syrup, eggs over easy and five sausages!".  So in all honesty I'm not going to bother quoting any of her scenes here just for the sake of time (sorry!).

And lastly Quentin Tarantino also can't resist putting himself in the film in his small role as Jimmy who through little choice has to help out Jules and Vincent with their problem and his performance in all honesty isn't that great but he does what he can. However some of his delivery feels like he is trying to remember some of his lines particularly when says how Bonnie is working "the graveyard shift at the hospital!" it just feels weird and unnatural. Basically Quentin, stick to the directing and writing, that's what your good at!

And Tarantino's most noteworthy scene comes when Jules compliments Jimmy on how good his coffee is and asks what flavour it is and Jimmy says "Knock it off, Julie!".  And Jules asks "What?" and Jimmy angrily tells him "I don't need you to tell me how fuckin' good my coffee is. I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping, she buys shit! I buy the gourmet expensive stuff 'cause when I drink it, I wanna taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It ain't the coffee in my kitchen. It's the dead n***** in my garage!".

So, as Jules tries to calm Jimmy, Jimmy interrupts him and asks "When you came pulling in here, did you notice the sign on the front of my house that said, "Dead N***** Storage"?".  And as Jules is about to reply, Jimmy asks louder "Did you notice the sign on the front of my house that said, "Dead N***** Storage"?!!".  And Jules says No, I didn't" and Jimmy asks him "You know why you didn't see that sign?" and Jules asks "Why?" and Jimmy yells "Cause it ain't there, 'cause storing dead n****** ain't my fucking business, that's why!".

And Jimmy then tells Jules "Now, look, you know, she comes home from work in about an hour and a half. The graveyard shift at the hospital. You gotta make some phone calls? You gotta call some people? Well, then, do it, and then get the fuck out of my house before she gets here!".  And as Jules tries to reassure Jimmy that "We don't wanna fuck your shit up" Jimmy angrily yells "You're fucking my shit up right now! You're gonna fuck my shit up BIG TIME if Bonnie comes home!  Do me that favor, all right? The phone is in my bedroom. I suggest you get going!".

DIRECTION AND MUSIC 

As for the director himself, Quentin Tarantino does a great job here of course and technically it is also pretty good film and as he did with Reservoir Dogs he employs the use of long takes in certain scenes and even has a little nod to Brian De Palma with the scene where we see Butch on the right edge of the frame, exhausted on the run from a groggy Marcellus who went see in the distance on the left of the shot.  He also makes good use of visual creativity, such as in the scene with Fabienne's reflection standing inside the motel room TV while an action film is playing. Perhaps time wise the film does feel a bit flabby in places with certain scenes overrunning but for the most part this is certainly one of Tarantino's very best efforts. The film is also remarkable for having cost just $8.5 million to make and it recouped its money and made a profit of over $200 million at the box office.

As for the music in the film it features a memorable soundtrack made up of tracks such as Dick Dale's "Miserlou", and Kool n the Gang's "Jungle Boogie", Aretha Franklin's "Son of a Preacher Man" as well as other songs like "Countin flowers on the wall" by the Statler Brothers, "Comache" by The Revels, used during the hillbilly rape scene and Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" used during Vincent and Mia's dance.  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for flaws....yeah well as good as Pulp Fiction is, it still has some worth mentioning.

And for starters, I do think that the film could be a little shorter as certain scenes do feel a bit panned out.  And for examples sake the scenes between Butch and Fabienne do drag on a bit, and are the only fairly tedious scenes in the film, especially with Fabienne wittering on, about wishing she had a pot belly like "Madonna did when she did Lucky Star!". At this point you want to just hit the fast forward button as the dialogue starts to get a bit cringe worthy! Further to this, I think its also a bit fair to say that Fabienne is a bit too cutesy a character for the film itself as she is quite a contrast to the rest of the hard boiled gangsters and molls we get but maybe that's the point I guess.    

And one of the few things that does leave me slightly uncomfortable about Pulp Fiction is the somewhat racist element on the dialogue, especially as the N word is repeatedly used in many scenes, such as Lance the drug dealer saying to Vincent about his deals "Am I a n*****?  Are we in Inglewood??" as well as Jimmie saying to Jules "when you pulled in here, did you see a sign on the front of my house saying dead n*****storage??".  It does show the film has an uncomfortable mix of humour blended in with racism, and it was the same in Reservoir Dogs where e.g. Harvey Keitel's character, Mr White, talks about "How is it every n***** I know treats their women like a piece of shit?".

I also though that in the redneck scene where Marsellus is sexually assaulted by one of the good ole boys, it does appear very stereotypical in its depiction of these characters and it almost like Quentin threw in the sodomy scene for shock effect more than anything else.  Its almost like Tarantino is doing a nod to the classic 1970's thriller "Deliverance" where Ned Beatty's character is also sexually assaulted by hillbillies.

Another issue is to do with the idea of Winston driving the tainted car with Marvin's dead body in it as he tells Jules and Vincent that he will drive that car and he gives Vincent the keys to his own Acura sports car.  So in the scene Winston tells Vincent "I drive real fuckin fast, so keep up" but if he does that then surely they will get pulled over by the police!  So, in this instance wouldn't it be better for Winston to exercise a little care when he is driving a car containing a dead body rather than belt it out at 90 miles an hour and risk being pulled over and arrested!

Then of course there is the continuity flaw in the scene where the guy in the bathroom bursts out and unloads his magnum at Jules and Vincent only to miss them both and the bullets go into the wall instead.  However if you look carefully before this scene, the bullet holes are already in the wall!  This however is already a well noted continuity flaw in the film itself, so I guess its nothing new but still worth pointing out all the same.

And further to this point, its surprising that the cops aren't alerted at all in any of the scenes involving gunfire in this film, not even where Marsellus shoots at Butch on the streets in broad daylight! I mean Jules and Vincent unload on Brett and his associates in an apartment with loud 9mm guns but NOTHING is heard or done about it, so no one calls the cops! I guess it was just a very apathetic neighborhood I guess where gun crime is so rife no one can be bothered to call the police! And even further to this, why DIDN'T Jules and Vincent use guns with silencers instead to keep things quiet?! I mean they even talk about using shotguns and that would be even worse! Ah well, we're not talking about real life here as it is a Tarantino film after all. 

This bring up another issue of continuity where Vincent refers to watching a TV show called "Cops" when earlier he clearly stated "I don't watch TV" to Jules when Jules talked about Mia's TV pilot. Now, Tarantino could have done this on purpose to mess with people and shift the narrative on purpose, as he does do this also with Honey Bunny's dialogue from the opening scene of the diner robbery. However, it is just a strange shift to go from "I don't watch TV" to "You ever watch that show cops?" and not even Jules thinks to remark on this either although his mind is probably still reeling from their narrow escape.

Another problem I had with the film was to do with Butch's choice when he went back to his apartment to get his watch and THEN go in and make himself some pop tarts in the kitchen!  I mean what hell???!  Surely to God he should have just got his watch and left the apartment straight away!  However I guess the flip side is that by killing Vincent that's one other problem dealt with but on the other hand even though Butch saves Marsellus's life, he does also kill one of his main henchmen, so wouldn't that also cancel out Marsellus's new found faith in Butch??!  Just maybe  In short, Butch really should have just left the apartment straight away than hang about to make breakfast for himself.

I also though it was strange how Butch appears to have the same dream about being a kid and receiving the gold watch and that he wakes up startled. It begs the question: is this the only dream Butch has? If so then I'm kind of surprised that Fabienne wouldn't be used to him having this dream by now when she said she was startled by him and she even asks "Did you have a bad dream?". Then again maybe he only has the dream when he is under stress and there is a lot on his mind and there certainly was in this film! And to be fair Butch does refuse to tell Fabienne as he says "its rare that I remember my dreams".

There are also another couple of oddities in the story such as the scene where Vincent tells Jules that he doesn't watch TV and he later on asks Jules if he watched a show called "cops" which totally negates what he said to Jules earlier! Now, you could argue that Vincent was being sarcastic in his response that he doesn't watch TV earlier in the film but it is still a bit bizarre how Tarantino doesn't refer back to it in the script at that point although clearly Jules's mind is elsewhere after their near death experience. 

Also was it really a good idea for Vincent to shoot up heroin just BEFORE he is due to go off and pick up his boss's wife for a dinner date?!  I mean what if he crashed the car enroute or worse crashed it while he was driving her to dinner?! I guess its OK for Mia to get all coked up since she won't be driving but not so much for Vincent surely! But again it is a Quentin Tarantino film where gangsters can shoot up people in neighbourhoods, scream and shouts as they do it as well as get pissed up on drugs and booze and drive cars at the same time!   

And last of all is the change of dialogue in the scene where Honey Bunny says in the opening scene "Any of you fucking pricks MOVE and I'll execute every single last motherfucking one of ya!" and later on the dialogue changes during the robbery finale itself. And it changes to "Any of you fucking pricks move and I'll execute everyone one of you motherfuckers!". I always felt that this changed was mainly pointless even if Tarantino himself argued that its from a different perspective but even so I think he could easily have kept the dialogue the same as it works much better than the changed version.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Pulp Fiction is easily one of Quentin Tarantino's very best films and its script and cast are both top notch and direction is by large terrific and sharp and he even makes good use of panning shots and fills frame at times in a creative way (where we see Lance's reflection in the mirror of his bedroom as he lays out on it being one). The film also has a very memorable soundtrack with the unforgettable "Miserlou" at the beginning and the use of other tracks such as "Jungle Boogie" by Kool n the Gang. 

And yes it does have some minor flaws and some plot holes and yes even some of the dialogue is a bit cringey at times and yes it does come across as being quite racist at times. However if you forgive it all that, Pulp Fiction is still one of the best films of its era and of the 1990's.

So, I will rate it:

9.5 out of 10 

Right, that's it for now and I'll return with another before the end of the month.

Till then bye for now!