Reservoir Dogs - Not Your Grandma's Type of Movie

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2011)

***This review may contain spoilers***
Reservoir Dogs stars Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown, Harvey Keitel as Mr. White, Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde, Tim Roth as Mr. Orange, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink, Eddie Bunker as Mr. Blue, Chris Penn as Eddie Cabot, and Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot. The film is a crime movie directed by Quentin Tarantino in 1992, and is his premier as a movie director.
The films plot centers around the formation of a group of criminals that are tasked with stealing diamonds from a vault within a diamond distribution center. Joe Cabot is the head of the group and carefully selects the members of the criminal gang consisting of the above individuals, as well as plans the heist. After planning the heist and carefully preparing the gang, Mr. Cabot activates the plan. Although, careful planning had taken place the heist quickly becomes derailed. Police officers are near the diamond distribution with a plan of their own to bring down Mr. Cabot's crime syndicate. Unbeknownst to the gang, their group contains an informant who has tipped off law enforcement to the plan. As the botched attempt takes place violence ensues with a few police officers and a couple criminals losing their lives. Following the botched robbery attempt the gang returns to an old burial casket storage facility which they had designated as the rendezvous point following the heist. As the members slowly start to arrive the plot takes a couple different turns which catches the viewer of guard. It is revealed who the informant amongst the group is, and other members of the group are killed.
The films theme contains a combination of Moral Implications and A Moral or Philosophical Riddle. The implication that "The Love of money is the root of all evil" is not lost on the viewer. This film is not void of the motifs that have come to define future Tarantino films. There is a plethora of scenes that dramatically display the use of profanity, violence, action, and references to pop culture of the era.
The dramatic structure of the film is a classic representation of nonlinear structuring which has become a staple of Mr. Tarantino's film. The sequencing of scenes out of chronological order keeps the viewer guessing and yearning for what led to the current events. This type of structuring can also be seen in another film directed by Mr. Tarantino titled Pulp Fiction.
The film, Reservoir Dogs is definitely not a movie for children. The violence is hard to watch and the profanity may cause your grandma's ears to bleed, but the film is realistic to the situation. Neither the violence nor the profanity is the focus of the film. The films storyline is the primary focus, with the violence and profanity being a necessary evil.