Reservoir Dogs

You don't need proof when you have instinct.

A review by Mike Shea Movie Rating: ( * * * * · ) DVD Rating: ( * * * * * )

I saw Reservoir Dogs before I ever fell in love with movies. I knew nothing about Pulp Fiction hadn�t been released yet. An old high school friend of mine got myself and some other old high school friends to spend a hot summer evening watching this most unique gangster movie. When it was over, I hated it. The next morning, I loved it.

Reservoir Dog was made for less than a million dollars. What it lacked in cash, it made up for in style, story, and dialog. It is proof that movies under $1 million are often far better than movies over $50 million. It was an unknown beginning to a whole new genre of modern gangster movies that for the most part had been taken up by Scorsese mob movies. It was one of the first movies to take non-edited original pop songs and place them as an ongoing soundtrack. It was one of the first movies printed out of sequence, following the story down a path other than time. While Pulp Fiction brought us a new age of movies, Reservoir Dogs paved the way.

This new DVD release includes a 2.35 to 1 16x9 enhanced transfer, and both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. There is a commentary track that seems to be clips of interviews placed over the movie at key scenes, rather than the full director�s commentary track I would have loved. The many interviews with the cast was indeed interesting except for the tacky lullabye format to Tarantino�s own interview. There are five or six deleted scenes that are all worth seeing including a reference to the "Bonnie Situation" in Pulp Fiction and two alternate - although very poor - views of the ear scene.

The two-disc DVD package includes a full screen and widescreen release on two different discs, a waste of my money and the promotion of a format better off dead. Movie studios have a duty to their art and to the consumers to educate and promote widescreen by offering no other version than the original aspect ratio transfer. To do otherwise is to promote self inflicted defacement.

Reservoir Dogs, aside from being a monumental hard edged independent crime drama, is a very entertaining film. It certainly isn�t for everyone, any lover of the sentimental tacky bullshit we normally see won�t care for it but that is why Titanic was made. When I think of Resevoir Dogs, I am reminded of Neil Armstrong. One small step for a single film, one giant leap for the art.