The Film
Writer/director Quentin Tarantino's 1992 debut Reservoir Dogs changed the landscape of feature films in the U.S. for the 90's and beyond from the moment it hit the screens. Its fast paced, raw and witty pop culture-dominated dialogue, blended with just the right amount of relentless violence, struck a nerve with critics and audiences alike, helping to launch Tarantino into the stratosphere of modern cinema. Today, needless to say, he is one of the most revered directors in U.S. cinema.
Reservoir Dogs tells the story of six gangsters, all dressed in sleek black suits, brought together for a jewel heist. None of them knows each other's name, they know each other only by their code names given to them by their boss, Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney). They are known simply by colors - Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino) and Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker).
When the robbery goes awry, the gang meet up at an abandoned warehouse as planned -- one of them shot in the stomach and bleeding to death -- and begin to turn on each other as they suspect there is someone in their midst working with the police. Tarantino never shows the actual robbery taking place, we only hear of it through the character's accounts of how it all took place. In typical Tarantino style, the film doesn't unfold in a linear fashion. It starts near the end, with Mr. Orange -- bleeding profusely -- being dragged into the warehouse by Mr. White. The story then jumps through a series of flashbacks centering around every individual, and how they each were recruited for the job. It is a storytelling device that Tarantino would go on to use with great effect in Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill films.
Reservoir Dogs, for all of its blood and violence, actually stands -- with the probable exception of Jackie Brown -- as the least violent of Tarantino's films. The infamous "ear slicing" scene aside, much of the violence of this film is limited to Mr. Orange's bleeding, some gunplay between a couple of the gangsters and police, and mostly second hand accounts of actual violence. Even the scene in which Mr. Blonde slices off the police officer's ear is tempered by the fact that the camera pans away for the actual act of slicing the ear off. This is fine with me. Tarantino's films garner much attention for their gratuitous violence, but it has always been their witty dialogue, quick pace and non-linear storytelling that hold one's interest -- and Reservoir Dogs is no exception. It still stands as a remarkable debut by a truly talented screenwriter and director.
The Picture
Appearing here in its original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio with an MPEG-2 1080p/24 high definition video transfer, Reservoir Dogs on Blu-ray looks fantastic. There is a fine amount of detailed film grain that remains consistent throughout the presentation, and flesh tones are natural with no red push noticeable. Contrast is well balanced and black levels are superbly done, resulting in fine shadow detail and inky blacks, particularly noticeable in the gangsters' black suits. Foreground detail is excellent, although there is an ever so slight bit of softness that occurs in background detail. The source was kept in good condition and the presentation of Reservoir Dogs looks wonderfully film-like. This 15th anniversary high definition release should please all fans of this film.
The Sound
For this Blu-ray Disc release, Lionsgate has provided an English 7.1 mix using the rarely utilized DTS-HD HR audio codec. Unlike its much more familiar and praised counterpart DTS-HD MA, the HR, or "High Resolution" variant of DTS-HD is still lossy, but at double the bitrate (3.0 Mbps) of the highest bitrate that the legacy DTS codec provided (1.5Mbps).
The sound quality of the 7.1 DTS-HD HR mix is quite acceptable for this mostly dialogue-driven film. Truth be told, it is only slightly below the clarity of what one might expect to hear from an uncompressed PCM or lossless soundtrack. There is not much in the soundtrack, however, to really show off the true potential of the codec as far as dynamics and handling of high frequencies. Even the 7.1 mix is overkill.
The surround channels are used for ambience with no discrete information of any consequence being panned into the rear channels and even the level of ambience is quite low so that the mix sounds a bit dry. In effect, what Lionsgate mixed into eight channels could easily have been done in six, or even just five, as there is not much lower frequency information to speak of. The LFE channel could have been eliminated for a 5.0 mix without much consequence. Criticisms aside, the mix mostly works well for the style of film. Dialogue is clear and intelligible, although the gunfire effects do sound a little thin and unrealistic.
The Extras
There are only a few extras offered on this release, and for some reason the audio commentary by Quentin Tarantino that was included on the 10th anniversary DVD release was left off of this Blu-ray edition.
The extras included are: "Pulp Factoids Viewer," which pops-up film, director, and actor trivia during playback, Playing it Fast and Loose (1.78:1/HD), a documentary about the influence and critical success of the film, Profiling the Reservoir Dogs (1.78:1/HD), a featurette that offers fictionalized profiles on the film's "gangster" characters, and five deleted scenes (1.78:1/SD).
Final Thoughts
Every fan of film and of Quentin Tarantino owes it to himself (or herself) to go out and buy a copy of this wonderfully transferred 15th anniversary high definition Blu-ray Disc release of Reservoir Dogs. Not only is the film itself a modern classic, but the quality and care of this release make it a reference catalog title on the merits of its picture quality alone.
Where to Buy:
Product Details
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
