thoughts about Reservoir Dogs

Tonight I read the screenplay of Reservior Dogs and then watched the film. It's a short script and the film is short too. The film is creatively written. It opens up new forms of structuring a film. Not that any of the things Tarrantino does in the film haven't been done before. Citizen Kane also uses a non-linear structure. He does create a film that tells a good story with strong characters and a Shakespearian ending that reminded me of the final scene from Hamlet. The film isn't as good as Pulp Fiction. That film is similar and probably could be watched as a double feature that shows Quentin's style and his subject matter. It seems that Reservoir Dogs is a precursor to Pulp. Without doing Dogs I don't think Pulp would have been as good. Also several scenes have been shown to be mere reproductions of other films. Like the scene where Kietel takes down two cops with his twin .45's. That was actually done first in a Hong Kong action film. So were the suites. They were taken from Japanese Yakuza films. Still it does retain a neo-noirish quality that makes it eminently enjoyable. Even the disgusting scene where Madsen takes off the cop's ear. It is a classic scene that shows beauty in brutality. The song, the little dance, and the sheer terror in the cop's face do show originality and immense creativity. And the final scene as I've mentioned before reminded me of Hamlet set to a Mexican stand off. Another brilliant mash up. Tarrantino is a great writer-director who ushered in a new era in filmmaking. He makes other films look old or very old. His style is brash and bold. His language is vulgar and profane. But it all comes together for a damn good film. And audiences love it.