Reservoir Dogs - A Test Of Style

 (1992) ★★★☆☆

I feel complicated about this film. I can't say I love it. Neither can I say I dislike it. I checked it out mostly because it's Quentin Tarantino's debut. I wanted to see how talented and violently funny he could get as a writer-director. It did entertain me to some extent.

It starts with eight men having breakfast and trash talk in a restaurant. This is however quite a nice setup to tell us about the characters. The way they talk, how they respond to one another, and their different views on the same matter, somehow give us a hint that whatever they're gonna do wouldn't be a smooth ride for sure.

It depicts what happens before and after a jewelry heist planned by these eight men, instead of the heist itself. In the second sequence, we learn that the heist has gone terribly wrong. Mr. Orange gets shot in the belly. Mr. White is driving him to a warehouse. Then Mr. Pink arrives. He suspects there's a rat, and they start discussing who may've set them up. Later Mr. Blonde, Eddie and Joe show up one by one. Things get messier and more violent as expected.

A nonlinear story told via flashbacks and memorable dialogues could be of an excitement to let us stick around it. 'Reservoir Dogs' is kind of a test of style for Tarantino, coz you can find in it all the hallmarks he uses for his later films. Although some of the acts are in a sense tedious and exaggerated, it's still a nice choice to find out how Tarantino shows his talents as a first-timer in filmmaking.