Emotionally charged, superb acting, too much dialogue.

Rating: 7/10 (13 May 2004)

Although written before Tarantino's other blockbusters, I saw this movie after seeing the Kill Bills, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown. I was disappointed; this movie is clearly inferior to all the aforementioned titles.
The acting was superb, and the actors really breathed life into the hackneyed dialogue and saved an otherwise mediocre movie. Tarantino's other scripts are wittier and sharper. If you are looking for a riveting tale of distrust and greed, watch this movie. If you are hoping for clever dialogue and moments of comic relief, you won't find them in Reservoir Dogs.
The emotion of the movie builds in a void of real action. Depending on your taste in movies, the excessive dialogue may bore you at times. One of the classic rules of a screenplay is to show what happened rather than having characters describe it. Consider Tarantino a rule-breaker in that respect.
The overall story, characters, set designs, etc. are simpler than other Tarantino movies I have seen. Compared to the standard Hollywood crime drama, this movie fares well, but certainly should not be considered a classic. Rent the Usual Suspects or LA Confidential instead. I give it a 5 on the Tarantino scale and a 7 for my IMDB score.