Review of Reservoir Dogs (1992) by Cameronius_113 — 10 Aug 2017

Reservoir Dogs was released in 1992 and was directed by Quentin Tarantino in his directorial debut. The film is about a group of strangers who band together for a jewellery heist, however after it goes terribly wrong they take refuge in a warehouse whilst they begin to suspect that one of them is an undercover police officer. Because of this being his first film, it really shows throughout the film how ambitious and excited Tarantino was to be making it; the film is full of style and great direction.

To start off with, the film feels very raw and realistic which I loved and nothing feels altered to fit the accustoms of cinema, and I could genuinely believe that all of this stuff happened in real life. It is extremely impressive for an independent film and cleverly made throughout.

Even though the film's cast are known only by colours, they each have a memorable quality for them which makes them feel more like real people; Mr White supports others frequently, Mr Pink only looks out for himself, Mr Blonde is essentially a psychopath and Mr Orange is a newcomer with not much experience. Each cast member gives a great performance, however there are some slight issues with some characters that I'll get onto later.

The film's story is told in a non-linear structure, with the present section of the film taking place entirely within a warehouse. Each character recounts what happened to them and we are shown parts of their backstory leading up to the robbery, as well as a few things that occurred afterwards. The intelligent thing that the film does is never actual show the heist itself as even though by the end of the film most things would be solved, it leaves some mystery still lingering there and makes the film more intriguing throughout rather than just simply showing stuff.

It is clear throughout that Tarantino is a huge fan of classic songs and films, and the inclusions of these references don't overstuff the film in any way and instead makes it more unique and stylish than your average crime film at the time. Music is also cleverly used ironically throughout the film too, as in one scene a man is being tortured in a very brutal manner but due to the happy song playing in the scene it makes you relax and enjoy it, until the moment when the music goes off and you realise what really just happened.

So the setup for the film is absolutely brilliant and it is thoroughly entertaining throughout, however when I look back at the film I realised that not really much happens in it; there's the criminals arguing about what happened, them going to do their business and then the rat is revealed. While I liked the reveal, I found it to happen very out of the blue and I personally thought it would have been much more interesting if the criminals had to piece things like clues together themselves to work out the truth, and due to them each likely having a different perspective it would cause a conflict between them (which is what the film makes). What we received wasn't bad or lazy, I was just hoping for something more intriguing.

I also felt there were a few unnecessary elements to the film. There was one particular character who was rather pointless and he literally has no character in the film, even the poster and the tagline of the film forgot he existed. The fact that he is rather unknown creates a suspicion throughout that he may be the mole, however after we find out that he isn't the mole it makes his character pointless in the end. There is another character in the film who pretty much has the same sort of role as the other one (a McGuffin), but what was different about this character was that he was an amusing person and had some sort of character to him, and it's also clear that the film is aware of his part in the film as in the very first scene he is subtly set up as a non-important character.

Another thing I felt which may have just been me was I thought that the backstory for Mr Orange went on for a bit too long, as it sets up both his character and also the start of the robbery because of his character being the last one whose backstory is shown. These two parts are shown without any cuts in between which felt a bit overlong to me (the film doesn't feel overlong in total length though). However, I may be the only one with that gripe like I said.

As I ended the review with my criticisms, it may sound like I gave the film a mediocre review but overall, I thought that this film was great and the issues I pointed out weren't major but things I felt could've been done slightly better. I had a blast watching the film and I would happily rewatch it any time; it has great performances from the cast, an interesting and intriguing storyline, lots of style and a very entertaining film throughout, however there were one or two things I would change if I was the one who had made the film.

8.