A very strong gangster film...

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2001)

Reservoir Dogs is Tarantino's best, in my opinion, even though I know many people will contest this affirmation...Pulp Fiction was pretentious, had a style that looked a little too "wannabe", and that didn't fit with that kind of story. But Reservoir Dogs is different. With all its awesome acting, especially from Harvey Keitel, its excellent twists and non conventional situations, it's the best film of its kind. It's boosted with testosterone, but it also laughs at itself, just to show how badly some supposedly professionals can work. No humor, no jokes in this film, it's just the troubling situations some characters confront that will make you laugh. And that's perfect, because the humor in Pulp Fiction was there to seem cool. The scenario is pretty well written, even though the use of the F-word is excessive...that story reminds me some Shakespeare texts, without all the pathetic and sad perspective. (Spoilers warning) There's also that scene, where Mr.Blue cuts off the cop's ear...this is a classic in violent cinema (is this a good or bad thing?!?!) because of its intensity, and of course, realism. The whole thing is very violent, and I don't know how a man that got shot once in the torso can bleed over half of a garage's floor...the awesome ending is also one of the most brutal and weird ones you can see. The story is about a group of robbers who plan a robbery at a jewelry, and that fail it...but the problem is that the cops were already in front of the store even before the robbery...so the criminals suspect one of them for being a cop. And the relationships between the several characters seperate them in two different groups, confronting each other in the end. And when you realize that the whole film was about seeing these guys fail, and kill each other to arrive at the conclusion that everyone is dead, the only thing you can do is laugh out loud...because it is funny, in some way. And the Coconut song won't help you stop laughing, because it brings an ironic and satiric aspect to it. The tagline used for "Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels" which is "A DISGRACE TO ALL CRIMINALS" is more compatible with this one...and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" is a pretty good movie too. Overall, great acting, interesting and surprising story twists, fine directing, and a very good movie. 9/10