Tarantino exploits audience savvy, preferring to build anticipation, mesmerise, and then cut away at the climax.
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
[A] remarkable macho crime caper that is at once violent, sickeningly funny and utterly compelling.
For Tarantino, the age of heroic competence is as dead as his characters are at the fadeout.
I can't remember a movie getting me so excited about what you could do with a little bit of money, some fine actors, and lots of beautifully profane rhythmic dialogue.
While Reservoir Dogs is probably Tarantino's most unpolished work, it strongly contends for the distinction of being his best.
A highly cinematic blast for those who can stomach its brutality...Like Glengarry Glen Ross with guns.
In 1992 Quentin Tarantino did something that hadn't been done since 1986 with David Lynch's "Blue Velvet;" he reinvented cinema.
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.
You don't have to love it to be impressed with its riveting treatment of criminals in action.
A nod to such noir crime classics as Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing," the movie's more than savvy sensationalism. Suspense, horror and humor are expertly interwoven.
Those who survive it emerge in a shell-shocked euphoria -- so good and so blunt is the writing.
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.
Fantastic crime movie. Awesome dialogue, plot structure and acting. Doesn't get much better.
The writing is crisp and clean, providing line after line of snappy dialogue designed to leave the viewer alternately pondering and laughing aloud.
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