Reservoir Dogs pales in comparison to Pulp Fiction

Rating: 6/10 (23 August 2001)

"Reservoir Dogs" contains the same macho, profane, tough-guy attitude and non-linear story telling as Tarantino's other film, "Pulp Fiction", but lacks the love of dialogue and the diversity and interest of characters. The characters in "Pulp Fiction" all had views, mannerisms, and characteristics all their own. They loved to talk, and we loved to hear them, because, insightful, funny or just plain stupid, Tarantino made everything they say interesting. In "Reservoir Dogs" however, almost every word spoken serves only to advance the plot. The characters are more or less interchangeable. None of them say anything that you couldn't imagine another character saying. With the exception of Red (Madsen) and Orange (Roth) none of the diamond thieves have any background. There is very little uniqueness to any character in this movie.
I mentioned the non-linear storytelling that was used in both "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction", unfortunately however, the concept that was so exciting in "Pulp Fiction", seems like a gimmicky way of hiding the movie's greatest flaw: Nothing much happens. The story involves a robbery (which we don't see) and the setup to the robbery (which we don't care about, because we don't see the robbery).
With "Pulp Fiction" already out on DVD and video, there is very little reason to see this movie, apart from, of course, curiousity.