Review: Reservoir Dogs Gets Its Day
- Jul 13, 2018
- 2 min read
In 1992 a young and unknown director exploded onto the screen in a big way, with a small movie. The world of cinema has never been the same since. The movie? Reservoir Dogs. The man? Quentin Tarantino.
Following a diamond heist gone wrong, Mr White (Harvey Keitel) and the recently shot Mr Orange (Tim Roth) find themselves holed up in warehouse. For Mr Orange, time is running out, and for Mr White, the search is on to find whoever set them up. When Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi) and Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen) arrive, the space becomes a little too small for so many larger than life personalities.
Reservoir Dogs is a film about keeping a cool head in a bad situation. It’s also just a cool film. For many, including myself, it was the introduction to character driven, non-linear storytelling, along with writing and cinematography that was a little more artsy than the usual Schwarzenegger/Stallone films I was watching. And Quentin Tarantino certainly made his mark. The writing is superb in a strangely casual way, and plot has enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. Throw in a truly sadistic torture scene and a little juxtaposition and you have a recipe for a top notch film.
It doesn’t hurt that it also features maybe the best cast Tarantino has ever assembled, though the now regular Samuel L. Jackson feels strangely absent. Roth, Keitel, Buscemi and Madsen all give great performances, nailing their characters and inhabiting the world with ease. The naming scene in particular, wherein the members of the heist receive their designating colours, is honestly one of Tarantino’s best scenes ever, for both acting and writing. Watching everything unfold, learning a little bit about each character, building up to the heist, it’s pretty interesting, though I won’t deny that it feels a little long winded at times, though not enough to detract from the film as a whole.
There’s not a lot of movies like Reservoir Dogs. It’s like 12 Angry Men on cocaine, in that it’s predominantly dialogue but with a solid dose of chaos to go along with it. For a directorial debut, it’s excellent, and is just an all round excellent film. A must watch for anyone.
There’s not a lot of movies like Reservoir Dogs. It’s like 12 Angry Men on cocaine, in that it’s predominantly dialogue but with a solid dose of chaos to go along with it. For a directorial debut, it’s excellent, and is just an all round excellent film. A must watch for anyone.
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