A tour de force.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:41
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Former video store clerk Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut, RESERVOIR DOGS, is a brutally funny, supercharged introduction to his supremely distinct cinematic vision, which was later to become... Former video store clerk Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut, RESERVOIR DOGS, is a brutally funny, supercharged introduction to his supremely distinct cinematic vision, which was later to become one of the most mimicked styles of the 1990s. Mastermind Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) assembles a crew of top-notch criminals to pull off a jewelry store heist. As the film opens it becomes immediately clear that the plan backfired, forcing the survivors, who have gathered at an abandoned warehouse, to figure out if one of them is, in fact, a police informer. The crew--Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), an aged veteran; Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), a wounded newcomer; Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), a psychopathic parolee; Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), a bickering weasel; and Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn), Joe's son--begin to unravel as the pressure becomes too much for them to handle. When Joe arrives, the truth becomes clear in a vicious Mexican standoff. Tarantino takes liberally from Hong Kong action flicks, most notably Ringo Lam's CITY ON FIRE, but his ultra-hip ‘70s soundtrack and hysterical pop culture dialogue make the film seem wholly original and new. Taking a cue from the French New Wave--most notably Jean-Luc Godard--RESERVOIR DOGS remains one of the decade's most influential motion pictures. [More]
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Eddie Bunker, Kirk Baltz, Stephen Wright
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Screenwriter: Quentin Tarantino
Producer: Lawrence Bender
Composer: Karyn Rachtman
Reviews for Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino exploits audience savvy, preferring to build anticipation, mesmerise, and then cut away at the climax.
[A] remarkable macho crime caper that is at once violent, sickeningly funny and utterly compelling.
In 1992 Quentin Tarantino did something that hadn't been done since 1986 with David Lynch's "Blue Velvet;" he reinvented cinema.
Tarantino was slated to direct the masterpiece that was True Romance but took on this project which might be the best directorial debut in years!
Undeniably impressive pic grabs the viewer by the lapels and shakes hard, but it also is about nothing other than a bunch of macho guys and how big their guns are.
It's unclear whether this macho thriller does anything to improve the state of the world or our understanding of it, but it certainly sets off enough rockets to hold and shake us for every one of its 99 minutes.
You may not like the terms Tarantino sets, but you have to admit he succeeds on them.
A highly cinematic blast for those who can stomach its brutality...Like Glengarry Glen Ross with guns.
Structurally, Tarantino may have borrowed from Kubrick's crimers and Hong Kong films, but for a debut, it's brilliantly written and acted and it captures the paranoia of white working-class men, threatened by gays, women and other groups.
Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere with perhaps the most astonishing, explosive American debut film since John Cassavetes' Shadows.
You don't have to love it to be impressed with its riveting treatment of criminals in action.
The one QT film that always manages to rope a knot in my stomach and keep a firm grip, pulling, twisting, tightening and re-tying it.
For Tarantino, the age of heroic competence is as dead as his characters are at the fadeout.
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