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Reservoir Dogs Sponsored by Sunturians 1992 | R | Crime, Drama | d. Quentin Tarantino Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi |
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| In "Reservoir Dogs," a character gets shot in the stomach and spends the rest of the movie bleeding. During this excruciating ebb and flow, you'll also witness the most appalling acts of violence but you'll see nervy brilliance too. If director Quentin Tarantino signs his name in blood across the screen, he does it with a sure, original flourish. With the exception of the opening scene -- whose purpose is chiefly comic -- the movie is one, extended climax. Even with flashbacks and other time jumps, it never lets up. For those sanguine enough to handle it, "Dogs" is the most riveting experience of the year. Essentially a heist flick, it's about a group of professionals hired by underworld honcho Lawrence Tierney to rob a diamond shipment in Los Angeles. For reasons of security, the men, including Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi, are ordered not to reveal their identities to each other. Instead, they're assigned colors. Thus, Keitel is "Mr. White," Roth is "Mr. Orange," Madsen's "Mr. Blonde" and so on. In a nihilistic drama like this, things -- of course -- go awry. As the panicked robbers try to figure what went down, so do we. Each scene, titled and arranged like a chapter in a book, provides a clearer view of the picture. It takes the whole movie to piece things together, but the nerve-damaging wait is more than rewarding. - Desson Howe, Washington Post | ||