Quentin Tarantino is here to stay

Rating: 8/10 (16 June 2014)

Before making his name well known in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino worked as a video store clerk before directing his first feature length movie. Reservoir Dogs was his first feature and boy, it was very good. In fact, I believe that when they pick out the best Tarantino movie of all time, my best guess is that they will have a field day with this film and his other works.
The story centers around four professional criminals with false aliases. They are: Mr. White,(Harvey Keitel), Mr. Blonde, (Michael Madsen), Mr. Pink, (Steve Buscemi), and Mr. Orange, (Tim Roth). All four men are involved in a robbery that went wrong. The bosses, Nice Guy Eddie, (Chris Penn), and his father, (Lawrence Tierney) got the message clear. But, what went wrong and who is the rat? Told through sharp dialogue and in flashbacks, the criminals try to figure what to do in this situation. The plot of this movie is dialogue driven and every piece of information is either spoken directly from the characters or told through flashbacks.
Tarantino has a ear for words. In fact, this independent film was made on a low budget and doesn't consists of any big budget special effects or explosions. While I was watching Reservoir Dogs, I was reminded that the artistry of the movies is not about action, but dialogue. It seems that in this world of today, movie goers are somehow drawn to the loud and sometimes obnoxious world of action. But, this is more than just your average crime caper film. An example of just how sharp Tarantino writes dialogue is the opening scene where we see the gang having a conversation in a diner. With this, we, as the audience, feel like we are eavesdropping on their conversation. Even more to the point, these characters aren't really talking about the actual crime they are going to commit. Rather, they are talking more about Madonna "Like a Virgin" than the robbery. That kind of trademark is always essential in all of Tarantino's movies. The main characters talk about pop culture and especially make movie references in either a diner or a restaurant.
The performances by Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and others including Penn and Tierney are very good. Keitel, who was also in another daring performance in Bad Lieutenant that same year, gives a commanding performance as Mr. White. Out of all of the main characters in the movie, I happen to enjoy watching Keitel's character walk through this movie, trying both to figure what happened and also keep his loyalty and respect to his boss. Tim Roth, who played Mr. Orange, is wonderful and also very realistic. The reason why I mention realistic is that throughout the entire time, Mr. Orange can be seen bleeding out on the floor for a very long time. Also, the bonding between Mr. White and Mr. Orange resembles a symbol of camaraderie between two soldiers who have went through a harrowing and violent scenario. But, one character who is different from all of the other characters is Mr. Blonde, who is played by Michael Madsen. He is very twisted when it comes to violent. One famous sequence in the movie is when he tortured a cop by tying him up in a chair and cutting off his ear. Later on, he threatens to set him on fire. That kind of violence is not glorified, but a lot of people were stunned and disgusted by that scene. For me, Tarantino know how to cut away from the violence so that you don't see the razor slicing the cop's ear.
Tarantino often writes movie references in his scripts and at certain times, bring influences to other genres as well. This is evident in Reservoir Dogs. The characters stated movie references from the 60's and mostly the 70's, creating a sense of pop culture. I know for a fact that for all of its intentions, this movie deserves to seen more once. It is twisted because of the story of a gang trying to recover the diamonds and also figure out what went wrong. It is screwy in the way that these characters talk and act toward each other. Unlike other crime movies, the characters who portrays criminals are more calm and more relaxed than other movie criminals. In other crime movies that I've seen, the criminals act rough toward each other and also to the women. Here, there is one minor female character, which is the waitress in the beginning of the movie. But, after that, no other female speaking parts.
Reservoir Dogs works as a mystery film, as a violent and bloody gangster picture and also as a movie of its own. If there is one other thing that I would say is that Quentin Tarantino will be around for a very long time. ★★★ 1/2 3 1/2 stars.