A delightful menagerie of non-linearity, earlessness, and Joe.

Rating: 9/10 (31 May 2005)

Reservoir Dogs is a (non-linear) story about six (four significantly) unacquainted career-criminals who are hired for a job but introduced to each other by alias only. During the attempted heist (apparently there is one), things go pear-shaped and the presence of a "rat" is strongly suspected. Distrust and paranoia predictably ensue, as do sporadic outbreaks of severe physical pain.
I disagree with Joe-290 (the only other Irish person to submit a review for this film), in that I do, in fact, think Reservoir Dogs is a great film, certainly within its own decade. The quality of the overall plot (which is good anyway) does not matter, I feel, when the overall effect is considered. This film is endowed with a streak of intelligent originality I have rarely seen elsewhere. The famous inclusion of the soundtrack as part of a radio-station that features prominently during the film is just one of many individual examples.
The script is non-linear and non-continuous, and so refers to some aspects of the story only indirectly and certain aspects of the characters which would have been treated with importance in other films are, almost flippantly, left to the imagination. This is, at least, an interesting and original effect and, at best, may even enhance characterization, as events on the screen can never emulate those which occur in the mind.
Despite the heavy and sometimes unusual violence, there is an all-too-human and realistic feel to the characters and to events in general. This is perpetuated by scenes such as the "meeting with Joe", in which the hired criminals are seen to be assigned their "job-aliases" on an arbitrary basis.
So what does Reservoir Dogs comment on and depict? Organized crime and its attendant unpleasantness I suppose, for a start. Human relations (I won't get into the whole "love story between men theory", although it is amusing to keep in mind post first viewing). It certainly doesn't resolve the problem of existence or articulate the fabric of the universe (though I think Joe almost does so accidentally at one point). It is, however, a verifiable work of art and "great" film  and it's damn cool.