Reservoir Dogs

release year: 1992
genre: gritty drama
viewing setting: home DVD, 11/28/98
what I expected: Tarantino schtick
what I got: fairly fast-paced, in-your-face intense drama

synopsis: After a diamond heist goes bad, the surviving thieves regroup and try to figure out what happened.

impressions: That description I just gave sounds simple, but the movie's a little more complicated and involved than that. One one hand, you've got the guy bleeding to death, who they can't take to the hospital. On the other hand, you've got the psychotic guy who turned the whole thing into a bloodbath in the first place. And so on. The guys all know that one of their group must have been an undercover cop...but who was it? Are the police on their way or not? All of this unfolds as the movie progresses, and though it gets brutal in places, it's very entertaining, with good dialogue.

acting: Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, and Michael Madsen all do outstanding jobs here. Acting is not a problem in this movie.

final word: Graphic and intense, very claustrophobic drama. Worth seeing.

rating: C+

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