a slap in Hollywood's face

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2000)

HOLLYWOOD DICTIONARY OF ACTION FILMS violence: a macho gung-ho male ditz tough-arming his way through a bunch of foreigners, shooting them in the upper chest or blowing them up with heavy duty artillory. hero: a macho gung-ho male ditz who can bench press over 500 lbs., thanks to heavy makeup, pull huge weapons out of nowhere, and is invisible to bullets. plot: a team of international terrorists have hijacked a nuke that will destroy earth unless the us government pays a hefty ransom. A team of (why only american?) marines are sent in to kill anything in sight and rescue tourist hostages, but all but one of the marines are killed off at the start. Now the survivor must single-handedly save the world.
Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" is an action movie, but an independent one. There's actually blood, a lot, when someone is killed. The heroes are either nice people disguised as criminals, or a psychotic who will do anything to get his job done. The plot is very original, filled with twists, shocking dialogue, and plans that don't always go good. Instead of the movie growing out of the violence, the violence is an essential stem to the movie's point, which is this: Hollywood action is for people with lots of money. So much they are too busy counting it and don't have time to put their hearts and brains into their film. I hope Tarantino's financial successes don't go to his head, and that he stay dedicated to giving us another version of action movies.