True Romance Review
True Romance (1993)
Cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper.
Written By: Quentin Tarantino.
Directed By: Tony Scott.
True Romance (1993) is a romantic crime film about Clarence Worley and Alabama Whitman, who fall in love almost instantly. Clarence is a very subtle simple guy, who loves kung-fu movies, works in a comic book store, lives in a tiny, dark apartment and not to mention his obsession with Elvis. Alabama is a cute little blonde thing that came to Detroit and became a call girl (she also loves kung-fu movies and pie). Now do not let the title fool you completely because this film is not what you think. Alabama is a call girl who is paid to have sex with Clarence on his birthday, however the two have a night of more than just sexual passion and express their love all in the same night. Now with Alabama being a call girl there are some dangerously loose ends that put the couple on this, say we say, crusade involving; drugs, pimps, aspiring actors, Italian mobs, love and violence. This film shows how strong and yet dangerous love can be.
Quentin Tarantino is one of the most famous writers/director of all time, famous for works such as; Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Django: Unchained (2012).With Tarantino's name on the case you know straight away this movie is going to be abstract, brutal and brilliant, all three things that describe True Romance. The movie was directed by Tony Scott (Who unfortunately passed last August) who was famous for directing projects such as; Top Gun (1986), Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987) and Man On Fire (2004). Scott actually changed the original ending of the movie changing the out come between Clarence and Alabama after the unforgettable climax towards the end of the movie.
Based in Motor City, Detroit and LA you see the couple going from living in cold, dark, dingy Detroit to LA that is constantly bright and warm. The abstract side of that is that a lot of brutal scenes and an incredible ending are filmed very bright, it's like an ironic joke. It shows that even if your not in the darkest corners of your town, painful situations can still occur.
The actors alone in this film are legendary now and were also back then, like Tarantino's name being on the case, seeing names such as Gary Oldman and Dennis Hopper you know it's a long shot for this film to let you down. The characters in this movie are ones you will not just befriend, but like Clarence and Alabama, you will fall in love with instantly. The talent by Slater and Arquette are stunning, really portraying these character strengths, weakness and obsession. Gary Oldman as Drexl, Alabama's pimp, should of won him an award. This character is cold, vicious and selfish, with dreadlocks, facial scars, a glass eye and gold teeth, his look is enough to let you know this character is nothing good, but the way Oldman portrayed him was scary. You hate this character, you don't want to mess with this character, but when you think about the movie as whole you can't help but love this character, who has also been mentioned in articles and polls as one of the best movie villains. Of course actors like Christopher Walken, who is also in it, show how easy and flawless their acting is, especially Dennis Hopper who does a scene with Walken and says this speech about Sicilians having 'black blood' in their veins. The speech is apparently is a real one, it was said to Tarantino by a man he met and Tarantino loved it so much he apparently wrote it almost word for word into the movie.
There is something in the movie I'd like to talk about in it's on little tangent, which again shows the abstract and almost acid-trip like scenes Tarantino writes. I mentioned above about Clarence having an obsession with Elvis, this being said Clarence wear's bowling shirts, etc, giving a subtle Elvis style to him. The King is such a big part of this movie because in several scenes Clarence sees and speaks to him. Elvis is sort of his conscience, his mind, however the strangeness of this is when Elvis tells Clarence to kill Drexl; "You wanna get unhaunted, well I'd kill him". The character of Elvis is never fully shown you see him neck down in the mirror behind Clarence pacing or leaning, etc. The character of Elvis is portrayed by Val Kilmer.
The only negatives I have with this movie is some characters are not in the story enough, however Tarantino and Scott still made those characters important and unforgettable. Also a character named Blue Lou Boyle is a huge connection in the storyline, however he is only mentioned very few times and is never show in the movie.
All in all this film will shock you, it will make you feel different emotions or just generally make you realise how awesome this movie was and still is. With just enough action to keep you on your seat, just enough violence to make you cringe but never look away, just enough love to make you smile and cry and an ending you will cherish, there is nothing like quite like True Romance.
My Rating: 9.5/10
VF
Cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper.
Written By: Quentin Tarantino.
Directed By: Tony Scott.
True Romance (1993) is a romantic crime film about Clarence Worley and Alabama Whitman, who fall in love almost instantly. Clarence is a very subtle simple guy, who loves kung-fu movies, works in a comic book store, lives in a tiny, dark apartment and not to mention his obsession with Elvis. Alabama is a cute little blonde thing that came to Detroit and became a call girl (she also loves kung-fu movies and pie). Now do not let the title fool you completely because this film is not what you think. Alabama is a call girl who is paid to have sex with Clarence on his birthday, however the two have a night of more than just sexual passion and express their love all in the same night. Now with Alabama being a call girl there are some dangerously loose ends that put the couple on this, say we say, crusade involving; drugs, pimps, aspiring actors, Italian mobs, love and violence. This film shows how strong and yet dangerous love can be.
Quentin Tarantino is one of the most famous writers/director of all time, famous for works such as; Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Django: Unchained (2012).With Tarantino's name on the case you know straight away this movie is going to be abstract, brutal and brilliant, all three things that describe True Romance. The movie was directed by Tony Scott (Who unfortunately passed last August) who was famous for directing projects such as; Top Gun (1986), Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987) and Man On Fire (2004). Scott actually changed the original ending of the movie changing the out come between Clarence and Alabama after the unforgettable climax towards the end of the movie.
Based in Motor City, Detroit and LA you see the couple going from living in cold, dark, dingy Detroit to LA that is constantly bright and warm. The abstract side of that is that a lot of brutal scenes and an incredible ending are filmed very bright, it's like an ironic joke. It shows that even if your not in the darkest corners of your town, painful situations can still occur.
The actors alone in this film are legendary now and were also back then, like Tarantino's name being on the case, seeing names such as Gary Oldman and Dennis Hopper you know it's a long shot for this film to let you down. The characters in this movie are ones you will not just befriend, but like Clarence and Alabama, you will fall in love with instantly. The talent by Slater and Arquette are stunning, really portraying these character strengths, weakness and obsession. Gary Oldman as Drexl, Alabama's pimp, should of won him an award. This character is cold, vicious and selfish, with dreadlocks, facial scars, a glass eye and gold teeth, his look is enough to let you know this character is nothing good, but the way Oldman portrayed him was scary. You hate this character, you don't want to mess with this character, but when you think about the movie as whole you can't help but love this character, who has also been mentioned in articles and polls as one of the best movie villains. Of course actors like Christopher Walken, who is also in it, show how easy and flawless their acting is, especially Dennis Hopper who does a scene with Walken and says this speech about Sicilians having 'black blood' in their veins. The speech is apparently is a real one, it was said to Tarantino by a man he met and Tarantino loved it so much he apparently wrote it almost word for word into the movie.
There is something in the movie I'd like to talk about in it's on little tangent, which again shows the abstract and almost acid-trip like scenes Tarantino writes. I mentioned above about Clarence having an obsession with Elvis, this being said Clarence wear's bowling shirts, etc, giving a subtle Elvis style to him. The King is such a big part of this movie because in several scenes Clarence sees and speaks to him. Elvis is sort of his conscience, his mind, however the strangeness of this is when Elvis tells Clarence to kill Drexl; "You wanna get unhaunted, well I'd kill him". The character of Elvis is never fully shown you see him neck down in the mirror behind Clarence pacing or leaning, etc. The character of Elvis is portrayed by Val Kilmer.
The only negatives I have with this movie is some characters are not in the story enough, however Tarantino and Scott still made those characters important and unforgettable. Also a character named Blue Lou Boyle is a huge connection in the storyline, however he is only mentioned very few times and is never show in the movie.
All in all this film will shock you, it will make you feel different emotions or just generally make you realise how awesome this movie was and still is. With just enough action to keep you on your seat, just enough violence to make you cringe but never look away, just enough love to make you smile and cry and an ending you will cherish, there is nothing like quite like True Romance.
My Rating: 9.5/10
VF
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