"You ever listen to K-Billy's 'Super Sounds of the Seventies' weekend?" - Mr. Blonde.
With my review of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight being pushed back to next week, what better way to fill the gap than with one of his finest works? Reservoir Dogs introduced the world to Tarantino's filmmaking skill, and contains all the aspects we now associate (and love) with his films. Making black suits even cooler and ensuring you never listen to "Stuck in the Middle with You" in the same way ever again, Reservoir Dogs is an outstanding début, and one which remains as iconic today as it ever was.
What seems like a simple heist of a jewellery store turns out to be something far more complicated for a gang of criminals. Suspecting one of them to be working with the police after the heist goes awry, the group becomes paranoid and unsure of whom exactly they can trust. With the egos of Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) and Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) clashing, Mr. Pink's (Steve Buscemi) paranoia getting the better of him and Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) slowly dying from a gunshot wound, the pressure is on for the gang to clean the situation up with the help of their employees Joe (Lawrence Tierney) and Eddie (Chris Penn). Along the way, we are shown how each member of the gang came to be involving in the heist, and it all builds to an exciting final confrontation where no-one is certain to escape with their lives.
Like all of Tarantino's work, it's the characters of Reservoir Dogs that are the most enjoyable part. All of them play off each other so well, and each is totally unique. Their different approaches on how to handle the situation and the conflicts this leads to are the stand out scenes. Soon after the heist goes wrong, Mr. White and Mr. Pink end up drawing their guns, and Mr. Blonde soon enters the picture to makes matters worse. The performances in this sequence are fantastic, especially Madsen as the psychotic Mr Blonde. He has a way of appearing to be the calmest man in the room, but creating a more disturbing atmosphere amongst the gang at the same time. Tim Roth is terrific as always, with his scenes with Mr. White providing a more emotional edge to the story. Although he spends most of the film bleeding to death, he is still able to have a commanding presence, and Roth does brilliantly portrayed the different sides to this character.The opening scene with the gang sitting in a cafe also aids in giving them depth, as they appear to be just regular guys having a discussion as opposed to the extreme emotions they display later on. It means that the audience is able to have some sort of connection to such as violent group, which makes them all the more unsettling and memorable.
Like all of Tarantino's work, it's the characters of Reservoir Dogs that are the most enjoyable part. All of them play off each other so well, and each is totally unique. Their different approaches on how to handle the situation and the conflicts this leads to are the stand out scenes. Soon after the heist goes wrong, Mr. White and Mr. Pink end up drawing their guns, and Mr. Blonde soon enters the picture to makes matters worse. The performances in this sequence are fantastic, especially Madsen as the psychotic Mr Blonde. He has a way of appearing to be the calmest man in the room, but creating a more disturbing atmosphere amongst the gang at the same time. Tim Roth is terrific as always, with his scenes with Mr. White providing a more emotional edge to the story. Although he spends most of the film bleeding to death, he is still able to have a commanding presence, and Roth does brilliantly portrayed the different sides to this character.The opening scene with the gang sitting in a cafe also aids in giving them depth, as they appear to be just regular guys having a discussion as opposed to the extreme emotions they display later on. It means that the audience is able to have some sort of connection to such as violent group, which makes them all the more unsettling and memorable.
To go alongside such memorable characters are iconic moments which utilise the most common trait of all Tarantino films: violence. In the most famous scene in the film, Mr. Blonde proves just how unhinged he is when he is left alone with a cop being held by the gang. He revels that he amused by the idea of torturing a cop, and proceeds to slash the man's face and cut one of his ears off. All the while, the rock classic "Stuck in the Middle with You" is being played on the radio, which creates a totally unique juxtaposition of film violence. All at once, you are horrified by the actions of Mr. Blonde brutalising a defenceless man, intrigued by the use of the song and finally feeling guilty for laughing when Mr. Blonde talks to the severed ear and asks "can you hear that?". In a more light hearted moment, Tarantino demonstrates a knack for writing and directing a more amusing moment between the gang, when Joe assigns the names for each gang member. With Mr. Pink arguing over the triviality of having a more feminine name than the others, there is a well needed break from the intensity of the heist aftermath and the unsettling violence. And that's where the brilliance of Reservoir Dogs lies. It has everything you could want not just from a good crime film, but from a great film in general. It isn't often that a film has iconic scenes that are both horrifying and funny, and I can't imagine any other filmmaker making them work better than Quentin Tarantino.
My only negative, and it's a very minor one, is the flashback involving Mr. Orange. There's a moment where he is explaining to Joe and Eddie a lie about an event that happened to him. Though amusing, I personally felt the scene dragged, and so my initial interest was lost as the scene went on. It's one of the more surreal moments in the film, with an extensive use of slow-motion and wide angles shots, but the scene doesn't culminate interestingly enough for it to take up this much time.
That being said, Reservoir Dogs remains an incredible directorial debut for Tarantino. In its hour-and-a-half runtime, Tarantino presents his trademark filmmaking style effortlessly. Reservoir Dogs is now considered a classic in the crime genre, and remains a unique film in that field thanks to its well-written characters, interesting use of music and dark humour. Announcing himself as a household name straight away, Quentin Tarantino has gone on to achieve greater popularity through films like Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds, and Reservoir Dogs is always a fun film to look back on and see where all that talent and style developed from.
My only negative, and it's a very minor one, is the flashback involving Mr. Orange. There's a moment where he is explaining to Joe and Eddie a lie about an event that happened to him. Though amusing, I personally felt the scene dragged, and so my initial interest was lost as the scene went on. It's one of the more surreal moments in the film, with an extensive use of slow-motion and wide angles shots, but the scene doesn't culminate interestingly enough for it to take up this much time.
That being said, Reservoir Dogs remains an incredible directorial debut for Tarantino. In its hour-and-a-half runtime, Tarantino presents his trademark filmmaking style effortlessly. Reservoir Dogs is now considered a classic in the crime genre, and remains a unique film in that field thanks to its well-written characters, interesting use of music and dark humour. Announcing himself as a household name straight away, Quentin Tarantino has gone on to achieve greater popularity through films like Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds, and Reservoir Dogs is always a fun film to look back on and see where all that talent and style developed from.
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