|
Reservoir Dogs
(**1/2)
When I first saw Reservoir Dogs, I didn't know what to expect from it. After watching it that first time, I didn't know what to think about what I saw. It has some really great things about it. But it's held back by...something. It's hard to place.
I've read several reviews of this movie. Being a person with no life, I do that a lot when I'm bored. Some of the reviews were written for the movie's premiere in about 1991. Some were written after the premiere of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" in 1995. There is a startling difference between these reviews. Those written in 1991 were generally weak, while those written in the wake of Pulp Fiction hail Reservoir Dogs as a great cinematic achievement.
So where do I stand on this? It's hard to place it. I hate to be a naysayer here, but it seems like people were so wowed by Pulp Fiction they figured they must have missed something in Reservoir Dogs. I only give Reservoir Dogs 2 and a half stars. This does not make it a bad picture by any means. It's simply too misguided.
It's understandable that this movie would be all over the place. Tarantino is a talented guy, but his first effort lacked a honed instinct that he had attained by the writing of Pulp Fiction. Tarantino's approach to a film is a good one. He doesn't do anything new; instead he combines what we've seen before in new ways. His combinations were a bit off here.
The story is simple; it's about a group of men who are held together by Joe (Lawrence Tierney) to do a jewel heist. Something goes wrong and a number of the men are killed. The rest of the movie is spent trying to figure out if there was a cop in their group, and who it could be. A few of them are admirable enough, as far as criminals go. Mr. Orange (Roth) is shot in the stomach, and a lot of the movie is about what to do with him. Mr. White (Keitel) wants Mr. Orange in a hospital, even though he knows that Orange would be arrested. Mr. Pink (Buscemi) doesn't care; he just wants to kill the cops and not get caught.
Mr. Blonde is a different story altogether, and Michael Madsen plays him in almost a Hannibal Lecter way. He's calm and slightly giggly through the whole movie; even when he's torturing a cop for no reason other than for his own enjoyment.
There is little wrong with the cast. Tarantino has written some great scenes, and his characters work them well. Even the weaker cast members aren't given time to hinder the plot, because they're not around much. Keitel shows us again how great he is, and that he should be getting some more credit for his work. While he has appeared in numerous hugely successful Hollywood productions, Keitel's career is influenced not by the paychecks, but by what he deems to be qualitative work. An actor with integrity will never be accepted by the Academy Awards.
But things don't work all the time in the movie. There are too many clichés, contrivances, and obvious twists in plot. While it's nice to see a group of talented men work together, it all comes off like an exercise. It always feels like the movie will begin after this is over.