Review of Reservoir Dogs (1992) by Victor T — 08 Mar 2015

Since the first half of the 90´s most moviegoers will say that their favorite or one of their favorite directors is Quentin Tarantino thanks to his over the top style that started in the universally acclaimed, cultural phenomenon and "the greatest independent film of all time", according to Empire Magazine: "Reservoir Dogs".

The film tells the story of a six guys hired by mob boss Joe Cabot to rob a jewelry store, each member uses an aliases based on a color. After the heist turns into a bloodbath, some members believe that one of them has betrayed them so a quest for finding the rat starts.

Along with Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino is consider one of the best, if not the best, modern directors by countless people, but to be honest I don't love him as much as the rest of the world, I think he is great director and very talented writer but he doesn't know when to stop, sorry, I had to mention that before starting the review. "Reservoir Dogs" is a pretty strong directorial debut as it has a strong cast that provides solid/memorable performances with the best being Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi; the dialog is memorable, quotable and funny; a perfect use of music, a solid screenplay, memorable scenes, a serviceable story that is clearly influenced and even at time mimics Kubrick´s breakthrough film "The Killing", and Tarantino flawlessly established his known well known style with the vulgar language, "excessive" violence, non chronological storytelling, paying homage to older films and straightforward writing, despite the nonlinear storytelling. The only problem I have is the wasted potential: The writing may be solid but the story is predictable, there are no themes here (while some say that the loyalty between criminals is one, the film is not about that), the fast pacing takes away the character development and the film could have used some doses of ambiguity instead of being so fast and straightforward.

"Reservoir Dogs" is a highly entertaining and rewatchable film that shows the potential of Tarantino´s directing style, but it also could have offered more. It is a great and memorable film filled with style that deserves its cult status but it is not a masterpiece.