True Romance

True Romance isn’t technically a Tarantino movie, though he did help write it. It still feels like one though, just with a little bit more innocent fun, toned down violence, and cheesy eighties music. It doesn’t pack a huge emotional punch, but it will keep you entertained throughout it’s running time. It’s directed by Tony Scott, the guy who did Top Gun. I personally am not a fan of Top Gun, but it has the same sort of adventurous getting-away-with-stuff spirit that Top Gun has. It’s a real fun movie, but I still kind of wonder what it would have been like if Tarantino had actually directed it.

For one thing, I’m sure the violence would be more obvious. There were a lot of violent moments here, but they were edited in a more conventional way so that we didn’t see as much. That’s not really a problem for me, but I did feel sort of cheated at some points. It’s not a big deal though, and if I hadn’t been in a Tarantino sort of mindset going in, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. I’m also sure the soundtrack would have been better. True Romance did use some good songs, as well as the theme music from Badlands (more on that later), but the score itself was really cheesy and eighties in my opinion. During the final shootout scene, I was actually rolling my eyes about it. There was already enough emotion there, we didn’t need the music hammering it into us at that point. According to Wikipedia, Scott changed the ending because he liked the characters so much that he didn’t want anything to happen to them. I was actually fine with this one, because I was of the same mind as him. I think if Tarantino had been directed he would have set it up slightly differently so a less happier ending would have worked as well, but we’ll never know for sure.

The films starts and ends with Alabama’s (Patricia Arquette) voice over narration, very much in the style of Badlands. It took me awhile to figure out that the music was indeed from Badlands, but once that narration started up I got it right away. Alabama has a slightly southern accent, and the things she’s saying sound a lot like Badlands: “If you gave me a million years to ponder, I would never have guessed that true romance and Detroit would ever go together.” The film doesn’t necessarily carry on like Badlands though. Alabama meets Clarence Worley (Christian Slater), and they immediately fall in love and get married the very next day. It’s actually really cute, even though it is kind of cheesy. They really do love each other though, and they’re more partners in crime than Kit and Holly are.

So then the ghost of Elvis (I’m not even kidding, he’s played by Val Kilmer) comes and advises Clarence to kill Alabama’s pimp. Not that they’re married, it’s just awkward to admit he exists. So he goes to see Drexl (Gary Oldman), who is kind of ridiculous but all the more threatening for it. Samuel L Jackson plays one of his associates, but his part is pretty small. The confrontation scene between Drexl and Clarence is pretty awesome, and straight up Tarantino. That is until the violence actually begins and you can’t see too much. While making his getaway, Clarence makes sure to get a suitcase full of Alabama’s stuff, but the suitcase he grabs is actually full of cocaine. Oops!

When he gets back home, he’s worried Alabama’s going to be mad at him because he’s technically a murderer now. She’s not though, she think it’s romantic. It’s actually kind of funny. But now they have all this cocaine on their hands and they don’t know what to do with it. They go to get information from Clarence’s dad (Dennis Hopper), who used to be a cop. Now they know that Drexl’s bosses are going to want the drugs back, so they have to get out of dodge pretty quick. They try to sell the drugs successfully before the mob can catch up with them.

The mob is definitely on their trail, and they show up at Clarence’s dad’s house after Clarence and Alabama have left for LA. This is probably the most Tarantinon scene in the whole film. Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken) has Clarence’s dad tied up and they have a whole discussion about the racial makeup of Sicilians, while all the while you don’t know when someone is going to get shot. It’s pretty fantastic, and feels really Tarantino right here. Now the action shifts to LA where Clarence is getting in touch with his friend who’s an actor, Dick (Michael Rapaport), who can help them sell the cocaine. Brad Pitt has a hilarious role here as Dick’s roommate, Floyd, who just sits around and gets high the whole time. He’s perpetually at their apartment, which is funny in itself, but he has some great lines too.

All the while, Clarence and Alabama are being unbearably cute together. They’re so in love with each other; it’s adorable. There’s a scene around this point in the movie where Alabama is left at the hotel alone, and is confronted with a mobster (James Gandolfini). She holds her own quite well, and eventually ends up smashing his head in and stabbing him in the foot. It’s pretty impressive; I might not have thought she had it in her before this scene (I wasn’t really thinking about it, to tell you the truth). All that’s really left is the final sell and the obligatory shootout. The most notable thing about the sell is that since they’re selling to a Hollywood producer, they talk about movies for awhile and while this is going on you don’t know when stuff is going to go down. They talk about the producer’s film and how it compares to other Vietnam films; it’s a pretty entertaining conversation actually.

True Romance is a very Tarantino film, even if it’s not completely his. It’s a really fun movie, with a large and impressive case and a whole host of colorful characters. I really liked the Badlands references, and the dialogue was great throughout the film. The romance in question is really cute; they meet during a martial arts movie and go to a comic book store afterwards. It’s kind of simplistic I suppose, but it is really cute. Overall, True Romance is a really fun film, with a lot of the things that Tarantino’s known for, even if it doesn’t deliver on all of them.

“That’s the way romance is… Usually, that’s the way it goes, but every once in awhile, it goes the other way too.”

Long story short: 3/4 stars