Movie Review
Title: Reservoir Dogs
Genre: Drama, crime
Release Date: 1992
Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino
and Steven Wright’s voice
Director: Quentin Tarantino
MPAA Rating: R
Reason for Rating: Violence and strong language
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
A job. A job for bad guys. A job for bad guys to do bad things and make a lot of money. Six bad guys walk into a diamond wholesaler with a plan and two minutes to get it accomplished and nobody gets hurt. Each one of these bad guys has a name and a rap sheet. Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. White (Harvey Keitel ), Mr. Blue(Quentin Taratino), Mr. Orange(Tim Roth), Mr. Brown(Eddie Bunker), and my personal favorite Mr. Blonde(Michael Madsen); who I mistakenly called Mr. Black in a previous review.
As most Tarantino movies do, this one plays with linear story telling, so I can’t summarize more without giving it away. Hopefully this is not the case, as Resevoir Dogs is a must see and it’s fourteen years old. I watched my tenth anniversary addition and realized that I have never done a review on it, so allow me to sally forth faithful readers.
This was Quentin’s big break out film and why is that, you might ask? He always plays with the time, right? Nope! Tarantino’s gift to film is dialog. Yes, here we are back at the foundation of movies again, the screenplay. His dialog is always spot on and seamlessly woven into informative banter. You grow attached and/or dislike characters based on their conversations about subjects that have nothing to do with the plot and yet this makes them human. Now, the deliveries are well done as well, but they have a great script on which to build. Of course with a cast this deep you can hardly miss, but you can’t attract this caliber of cast without a solid script.
This film is also shot well. QT gets shots that increase tension in the film making you feel the anxiety of the characters. He cuts his shots into a series of non-linear stories that fit together and form a complete story, but each mini story is antonomous and that is the power in his film making. Now the production value is a little low, but remember in ’92 digital cameras were not prevalent in that decade and film was still expensive. I enjoyed this film immensely and it will always remain in my personal DVD collection. This is a must see/own for movie buffs and anyone who appreciates good movies.
**Warning faithful readers, once you see this movie it will change your expectations of other movies. Enjoy at your own risk.
Hit or No Hit: Coach Mike gives this a triple, boosting its slugging average above .700.
