Tarantino's hip, cool, naturalistic, incomparable gangster masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2007)

Reservoir Dogs: Tarantino's debut of writing and directing.
Reservoir Dogs is a fitting and satisfying beginning to the series of Tarantino's excellently unique film archive. This film entails the story of a gangs heist of a jewelery shop that goes terribly wrong. They think there's a rat in the gang and things get pretty violent!.
To protect the gangs identities, they only each other by colour. There's Mr Pink (Steven Buscemi), Mr White (Harvey Keitel), Mr Brown (Tarantino), Mr Blue (Eddie Bunker), Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen) and Mr Orange (Tim Roth). This mysterious and unparaleled alias inclusion is a cool feature that I am sure none of us have ever seen in a gangster film.
Despite the films low budget, the cast was very good with such faces as Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth. Keitel even helped produce the film. This just proves how gripping Tarantino's writing is to be able to rake in the top stars for a low budget. Tarantino also managed this in Pulp Fiction.
Keitel pulled off a blistering performance as the sombre and somewhat pseudo-professional Mr White. Steve Buscemi's performance was also spot on, his depiction of the allegedly gay Mr Pink brought the film to a deliciously ironic end. Michael Madsen was also exceptional as the psychopath murderer Mr Blonde.
The film opens with one of the most famous scenes of the 90's, the classic scene of the gang sitting in a coffee shop. Its a scene of constant pop references, irresistible Tarantino dialogue and dark humour. This bona fida scene shaped the beginning of Tarantino's career and provides something none of us have ever seen before.
Tarantino's retro 70/80's choice of music is very cool. Especially, the music in the famous ear cutting scene. 'Stuck in the Middle with you' by Stealers Wheel was a perfect on-screen juxtaposition that reaches into the viewer and rips out any sense of calmness.
This is the start of a legacy of stylish cinema from one of the hottest directors in Hollywood. However, this doesn't live up to Tarantino's later work 8.3/10