A ground-breaking thriller.

Rating: Null/10 (13 November 2003)

Reservoir Dogs marks the directorial debut of Quentin Tarantino, and is a smart, gutsy, original slant on a familiar story. Tarantino admitted that he wanted to focus on the events that would normally constitute the final ten minutes of a heist movie, and stretch them out so that the whole film revolves around them. He also admitted that he has no idea why he called the film Reservoir Dogs, though it seems to me to be a wink in the direction of Straw Dogs (another extreme film which pushed back a few moral boundaries twenty years earlier).
The plot focuses on the aftermath of a bloody jewel heist. The would-be robbers meet at their agreed rendezvous point in a deserted warehouse. One, Mr. Orange (Roth) is bleeding from a bullet wound to the stomach. Another, Mr. Pink (Buscemi) is roaring and raging that he thinks the heist has been blown wide open by an informant. Then there's Mr. White (Keitel), a cool killer who believes in honour among thieves, who just wants to protect the survivors and get them out of there before the cops show up. But deadliest of all is Mr. Blonde (Madsen), a psychotic loose cannon who's abducted a cop from the crime scene and is prepared to do whatever it takes to find out if there really is a mole amongst the team.
Tarantino has a fabulous eye for grim detail and a fabulous ear for believable dialogue. These guys swear a lot and chat about seemingly irrelevant things, but they sound every inch like a team of lethal jewel robbers. The ear-severing scene may have gone down in history as one of the the most horrific scenes ever witnessed, but it's power and impact are undeniable. However, Reservoir Dogs isn't good just because of some snappy interplay and a couple of powerful scenes. It's quality far exceeds that. The structure is very unorthodox and absorbing, while the predicament of the characters is conveyed with genuine excitement. We know from the start that Roth is the informant (the other thieves don't) and there's something moving and honourable bout the way he suffers in silence as the finger of blame shifts about among the bewildered crooks. Reservoir Dogs is an outstanding thriller, as challenging, disturbing and gripping as any film you'll ever see.