True Romance

Aside from Walken's Vincenzo, there's nothing here worth remembering. The dialogue lacks the bite that Tarantino would later apply to Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction. Even Scott doesn't have the form or ideas of his earlier or future films. Slightly above average, it entertains more in individual scenes than as a whole. (31/01/2005)

It's easy to wonder what this film would be without Quentin Tarantino. Surely it would still have one of the most stellar casts ever, plus the skilled hand of Tony Scott, and an absolutely superb soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. But it would have lacked the soul that Tarantino's wonderfully relaxed screenplay gave it, and the story would have been completely lost. With all that, True Romance is one of the most charming and compelling crime stories I've ever seen, and Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette may be the best couple since Bonnie and Clyde. (07/10/2012)

Although this film is based on Quentin Tarantino's screenplay, it's not something that left a deep impression on me. The film simply didn't entertain me, as if Scott couldn't properly convey what Tarantino intended on screen. Perhaps that's why he later preferred to direct everything himself or leave it to Rodriguez, with whom he simply clicked perfectly. I don't like "True Romance". (13/04/2014)

This is Tony Scott’s best film, hands down. A big share of that goes to Quentin Tarantino’s playful script that sets True Romance apart from Scott’s newer good films, like Enemy of the State. This film is not only nice to watch, but it’s at least equally nice to listen to the dialogues. (11/02/2012)

A brilliant, almost Tarantino-esque film that fills out beautifully and accurately the ninety-third year, hence the year-long directorial hiatus in Q.T.'s output – a break in the very fruitful period between Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction). I think it's time to look back a bit at the nineties work of perhaps my all-time favorite, Quentin. I've seen Reservoir Dogs, I've seen Pulp Fiction, I've seen Jackie Brown, I've seen Natural Born Killers (which, despite being "just" a Tarantino screenplay, I consider a Tarantino movie in a way). The only thing I missed was True Romance, and I put it off for so long really only because Q.T. didn't end up directing it. However, Tony Scott has some balls too, and once again he took on a superbly layered, thoughtful, and funny script with all the panache he could muster and really managed to wring the most out of the action scenes. The early work of Q.T. was already clearly proving that both in terms of screenwriting (just in the actual construction of the plot) and in terms of being able to get a bunch of interesting characters on screen and create atmosphere through their "mere" actions and behavior, Tarantino was just going to be a whiz. And that Zimmer soft soundtrack in the "romantic" passages was not to be missed! (26/07/2011)