Review: Reservoir Dogs

There's spoilers all through this, for the record. It's really more of an analysis than a review.

I'm not sure why you need so much violence to tell this story. You can have the same movie, even keep most of the ear scene, but just put more of the violence off screen, and I don't think you'd lose any of the film's potency. I just don't need to see the place where someone's ear used to be. Although maybe that's the way we're supposed to feel about Mr. Blond.

The script is fantastic. I love the first scene at the diner. Tarantino knows how to write dialogue even if he is excessively violent. It feels so natural to watch a bunch of guys talk about tipping and the true meaning of Madonna songs, and at the same time you get some serious character development. Mr. Orange's fake story about the bathroom is the best sequence in the film. It picks apart the nature of storytelling and lying, how you can make a lie true by knowing it well enough and how you need a few lies to make a story that actually happened really shine. I want to watch it again just to analyze the story the cops are telling within Orange's tale. Is the cop telling the story making stuff up to entertain his partners, or is he telling or embellishing the truth? The whole scene is all part of Mr. Orange anyway; what does it all say about him? He's telling a fake story about someone telling a possibly fake story, and they both get away with it. That is, if the cop is lying at all. What does it say about Orange if the cop in his story is telling the truth? Either way, the fact that he's telling a story about getting away with something right under someone's nose is great since he's currently getting away with something right under everyone's noses.

I think it's best to take this movie as fourish character studies framed by this robbery. Pink is selfish, Blond is horrific, White is compassionate and loving, and Orange is... Well, I think he's the most interesting. He's the good guy, the cop, but he doesn't seem like a completely great person. He's got that sort of relaxed, cocky asshole banter going with his black friend in that diner, and he's apparently screwed up his marriage judging by the wedding ring in the bowl of pennies. Maybe that's why he decided to go undercover in the first place; he screwed up and wants to try and make things better.

White is also fun to look at. He takes Orange under his wing and starts to really love the guy. I think he probably follows the old empathetic killer stereotype and sees a lot of himself in this new kid. He probably wants Orange to be happy, to succeed, and to live a long, enjoyable life. That's all anyone would want for themselves. But then Orange's inevitable betrayal comes along, and White's anger at being deceived is just enough to overpower his hopes for this kid...

Pink is pretty simple. He's selfish, as I said. Take any scene he's in and this character trait will emerge, from talking about not tipping to staying out of the final standoff. I like him (Steve Buscemi is great), but there's not a ton to say about him.

Then there's Blond, who just creeps the hell out of me. Torturing for fun just ain't cool, kids. Anyone who does that is horrible, nasty, and almost inhuman. He makes me squirm. I'm liking this idea that his personality is portrayed by the horrific violence; the gruesome images are a depiction of his character. That's sort of an excuse for the violence, in that it's a way to convey what's going on inside Blond's head. The problem is just that I don't want to watch a movie about what's going on in Blond's head because it's scary as shit.

Overall, it's good stuff. Tension, drama, characters, script, all of it good. There's something there to be learned, too. Something about either how bad things lead to bad ends or how unlucky things lead to bad ends. I'm not sure which.

SAM'S VERDICT: amazing script if you're able to take a lot of graphic violence.