Movie Review - Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, and Quentin Tarantino

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I came to the party late on Reservoir Dogs which probably caused the flick a little bit of harm in the grand scheme of things.  I'd heard that it was this fantastic piece of work filled with clever dialog and great performances.  While I'd agree with that to a certain extent, I have to be in the mood for Quentin Tarantino's writing sometimes and at the start of this heist-gone-bad film, I just didn't dig what I was hearing at all.

However, by the time the halfway point rolled around and "Quentin Tarantino, The Actor" took a backseat to folks who can actually act, I began to see what all the fuss was about.  Granted, I'm still not quite sure why it's revered as much as it is because to me now it seems just like every other Quentin Tarantino flick with its pop culture dialog, hip oldies soundtrack, and time jumping editing.  But, perhaps in 1992 this was new to the scene.  [Although now it really shows me that Tarantino is kind of a one-trick pony and while I may like his tricks, he really doesn't bring a whole lot new to the table in terms of technique in his films.]

The tale of a failed jewelry store robbery is filled with some solid performances from Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen as part of the group of men tasked to steal a load of diamonds and it's these performances that really make the movie work.  Sure, they've got a nice script from Tarantino that had a mild twist or two for the actors to sink their teeth into, but this is really a low budget actors' showcase.

In the end, I enjoyed Reservoir Dogs, but I probably would have enjoyed it more had I seen it fifteen years ago before every college student raved on and on about it thereby increasing expectations exponentially.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-