Dir. Quentin Tarantino, 1992, US, 99 mins
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn, Lawrence Tierney, Eddie Bunker, Quentin Tarantino
Twelve years on and Reservoir Dogs still seems as fresh and hip as it ever was with its instantly recognizable two-tone fashion statement, retro soundtrack, controversial torture scene and dialogue that defined nineties cinema. Prior to the film's release, the eighties had given us obese genre movies, bloated on money, merchandising deals and formulaic plots that were fast growing stale, but maverick director Quentin Tarantino injected new life and even new hope into filmmaking. In doing so he rode in a new wave of indie movies that did without the studio gloss and instead harked back to the gritty, urban feel of the seventies, that didn't go for straight good guys versus bad guys showdowns but just guys, real guys trying to get the job done.
When a handful of colour-coded criminals are trapped together like rats in a sinking ship after a spectacularly bungled diamond heist they attempt to maintain their professionalism against all the odds. Nobody is really a hero, there's no one to root for, but the reason the film is so compelling is these guys could be anybody and this comes across in Tarantino's major strength: dialogue. The strangers can't divulge any personal information to each other so what do they talk about? Old TV shows, movies, music and even comic books, stuff those guys would have grown up with and they argue over meaning and who starred in them like any other regular person would. Using this in a script sounds commonplace now but it's all down to Tarantino and this film is where pop culture was at last being acknowledged as something filmmakers and audiences could both identify with, making this movie notably postmodern in its referencing.
Some have criticized Tarantino for his lack of originality and his borrowing from other movies, notably the final shootout in City On Fire, but like The Simpsons he is merely giving a reinterpretation of the reference so the audience's built-in knowledge of a song or movie will elevate its use to a whole new level. When Mr Orange refers to Joe as Thing from The Fantastic Four or when he psyches himself up with dialogue from Beretta we know what he's talking about, it's just a different way of getting round the problem of having to present the audience with information in a generic way, audiences are smart now, they've seen a lot of movies. Like any self respecting film geek Tarantino has an encyclopaedic knowledge of countless films and he is merely putting that to good use, paving the way for other nineties indie directors to do the same, including Doug Liman, Steven Soderbergh, PT Anderson and Kevin Smith, whose use of Star Wars lore is unsurpassed, so they can make movies by fans for fans.
What makes Reservoir Dogs a must-have for anybody's collection is its gleeful use of cinema to act out male fantasies. Tarantino has said when he's writing a character he is that person and, in this movie especially, it shows. The characters here aren't exactly in-depth but each is different enough and has their own set of rigidly followed codes to make them a defined personality. Every young guy at some point has believed he can be a bad ass and here Tarantino has allowed them to act it out as we follow Mr Orange becoming a criminal, wanting to fit in with their stories and lives while at the same time having the exhilaration of carrying out a diamond heist and shooting guns. While there are many Hollywood movies that cater to testosterone junkies, Tarantino shows us the downside to the lifestyle in bloody pools of mistrust and psychosis, never glamorising the violence and he never underscoring it with unrealistic slo-mo or dramatic music, just the sound of the street and the inevitable fatality of the bullet.
With Kill Bill Vol. 2 out this weekend, Tarantino's fifth release since he began directing, his filmography may not be prolific but there's no denying that he's been a constant presence through the last decade of cinema. A bit of script doctoring here and a performance there have meant he has made himself synonymous with the cool side of Hollywood while being able to promote new talent such as fellow movie brat Robert Rodriguez. If you want Tarantino at his most raw and visceral then Reservoir Dogs remains a milestone, a testament to how a video store clerk fulfilled his dream and made a cult movie. His youth, only 28 when he made it, plus his penchant for broken storylines make Tarantino our generation's Orson Welles; a prodigious talent who cast a modern new look at how movies are made.
Richard Badley
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