Reservoir Dogs (1992)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Reservoir Dogs" is about a diamond store robbery gone seriously wrong. The picture opens with all of the hooligans involved in the heist sitting around having breakfast in a dinner. Quickly, we are introduced to their different personalities and which ones are higher on their evolutionary scale. The following sequence begins after the heist goes wrong. Those involved, all named colors to keep their names hidden from each other and witnesses, are to meet up at a warehouse. Slowly, the bunch trickles in one by one to reveal a bit more of the robbery fiasco. Although, the picture is concentrated in the one location, the warehouse Tarantino allows the picture to flashback, revealing certain secrets of certain characters. In the end, we find out one character is responsible for the entire cluster-f**k and another is actually an inside man for the cops. Riding out the story to figure out who is who is most of the excitement of the picture. The movie is very violent, even though we never see the actual heist going wrong. One character spends the entire picture bleeding from his stomach, while another tortures a kidnapped cop from the crime scene. The best aspect of this movie was its cast. Notable indie actors and filmmakers like Tim Roth (Rob Roy), Steve Buscemi (Con-Air) and Harvey Keitel (The Piano) all have significant parts. Other faces to recognize are Michael Madsen (Species) and Chris Penn (Short Cuts). I don't think there's a single weak link from those actors with large roles. The picture adopts the true meaning of an ensemble piece. I thought, as a writer, Tarantino was very crafty. He maintained an order of inevitability which ended in a ridiculous climax, which was very believable and violent. Writer/director Roger Avery helped Tarantino with some writing of the script. Together they won an Original Screenplay Academy Award® for "Pulp Fiction." The only problem with the picture was its pacing. Some scenes had improvisational dialogue that went around in circles. Tarantino should have taken more time to extract useless minutes from his story. There is one portion of the film where the character who is revealed to be an undercover cop is training himself with a fellow cop, ensuring he'd be able to walk among the criminals and be accepted into their temporary gang. That sequence nearly puts me to sleep every time. It is needed, but completely drags the film down. Overall, despite the intense amount of language, "Reservoir Dogs" is a very strong character study, but has some pacing issues which may turn people off. Tarantino is the king of pacing issues, but nothing like "Pulp Fiction" and/or "Jackie Brown." Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This was writer/director Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut to hit indie houses and kick up a lot of dust. It's a good notch in the history of Independent filmmaking and very unlike a lot of the director's later works.
This title was requested by a reader.