Worse Than His Bite

Rating: 3/10 (15 February 2005)

Quentin Tarantino has become famous and been called a genius for showing us what he thinks is cool. He's been called other things too. You can practically hear him during each shot . . . "Now, wouldn't it be cool if, instead of slicing off Marvin's ear with the razor, he ripped Marvin's ear off with his teeth, spit it into the air, called him an anti-Semite, then punched him in the face? That would be cool, wouldn't it?" That would be cool, but it would take the Coen brothers and John Goodman to get that shot right. What Tarantino does in Dogs is use a simplistic backdrop to draw head shots of comic book gangsters, like a kid making shadows on the wall in front of a projector after the film runs out. A kid who tortures puppies. The whole film is a bad impression of a good gangster picture. The intimacy of the cinematography draws the audience in; makes us a part of this crew of facile felons. The dialogue leaves you searching for a Q-tip. The one that reminds us of our greedy little selves gets away with the diamonds; the rat, along with everyone else, dies violently. The audience gets one in the gut, too, as the screen fades to black. Tarantino's freshman bark comes out more Taco Bell chihuahua than New Jack City rottwieler.