(Review originally written at 16 February 2006)
"True Romance" is criminally underrated in terms of how well known it is and how it was received in 1993 by the critics and the public. It hardly won any awards even though the acting is top-class in this movie, as well as the story itself is.
Basically this movie is the ultimate guy-movie. Violence, shootouts, cursing, cool characters, all put together in a clever script that is filled with some typical Tarantino dialog and situations. How could you not love this movie? It has some highly memorable sequences in it, mainly thanks to the great cast and acting.
The cast of this movie is absolutely amazing. Lot's of well known actors show up in some rather small roles such as Christopher Walken who with his one scene makes such a lasting impression, that you easily forget that he only is in the movie for a few minutes. Same goes for Gary Oldman in a totally flipped role and Samuel L. Jackson who basically only is in for about a minute or so. Other impressive small roles are being played by James Gandolfini, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore (crazy as always), Michael Rapaport, Victor Argo, Brad Pitt as a hilarious stoner, Ed Lauter, Dennis Hopper, Saul Rubinek, Val Kilmer and Bronson Pinchot. The two main leads, Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette might not be as impressive as the rest of the cast but the supporting cast more than compensates for this.
But it really are Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken who steal the show in this movie. Gary Oldman is totally crazy over-the-top as a white pimp who acts- and thinks that he is a black person. The famous sequences between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken is a true classic and one of the best acted sequences I have ever seen. Those 10 minutes alone are more than enough to make this movie worth watching. It's such a well written and acted out sequence. It never loses it's power, no matter how often you have already seen it. I think I already know that dialog by heart right now.
It's a great story of romance, drugs, stealing and killing. The movie is made very lighthearted, meaning that it's incredible fun to watch. The movie is obviously not made serious, just look at the over-the-top characters and dialog. It's really Quentin Tarantino who deserves most credit for this movie, even though it was Tony Scott who directed the movie.
I absolutely love this movie and I never get tired of watching it. The characters, actors and writing are all at their very best. Violent crime movies don't get much better than this one. Great fun from start till finish, an absolute must-see!
10/10
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