Reservoir Dogs (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Tarantino's first, in 4K. Movie looks great. The extras are taken from previous releases, still entertaining. This is a great movie, with some nice career making performances from Tim Roth and especially Michael Madsen, who is the standout in the ensemble. Would be nice to have Tarantino do some actual commentaries for his films, but he doesn't seem to be too involved in the home release versions of his movies at all. Although nice to see them starting to be re-released on 4K.

It's a great classic with many classic actors in it!

Classic movie, found it on deal. If you’ve never seen it. You should! Cast of talented actors. Would say if you can get it under 10-12, add to your collection.

Good movie, rating 4.7

Reservoir Dogs is still every bit as sharp, shocking, and stylish as when it first hit the screen. This 15th Anniversary Blu-ray edition gives the film the justice it deserves, with clean visuals, crisp sound, and plenty of behind-the-scenes extras that make it worth owning even if you’ve seen it a hundred times. Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs remains one of the most iconic and influential crime dramas ever made. The film’s gritty dialogue, nonlinear storytelling, and unforgettable performances from Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, and Michael Madsen make it a must-see for any film lover. Even decades later, the tension in the warehouse scenes, the dark humor, and the raw emotion all hold up incredibly well. The Blu-ray transfer quality is excellent for its age — colors are balanced, the film grain feels natural, and the audio mix does justice to the pulpy soundtrack and razor-sharp dialogue. This edition also includes several great bonus features, including behind-the-scenes interviews, cast reflections, and commentary that give fans a deeper look into how Tarantino’s style began to take shape. It’s a noticeable step up from the older DVD versions in both quality and presentation. If you’re building a collection of classic films or love crime thrillers that focus on story and dialogue rather than spectacle, this is an essential pickup. Whether you’re revisiting it for nostalgia or discovering it for the first time, the 15th Anniversary Edition delivers a definitive experience of Tarantino’s first masterpiece.

This 1992 film was the first written and directed by Quentin Tarrantino who also appears in the film as Mr. Brown. Over the years, I have seen most of Tarrantino's films but this was the first time I have seen "Reservoir Dogs" in this 2019 stream version on Amazon Prime. I had heard about the film through watching 1940s film noir and of course through seeing other Tarrantino movies. The film tells an over-the-top story of the heist of a Los Angeles diamond store. Five thugs are recruited for the job by mastermind Joe Cabot (Gene Tierney) and the heist is carefully planned. The trouble is that one of the thugs is an undercover cop. The heist goes awry with much senseless killing. The film is told in a non-linear manner from the perspective of each hoodlum so that the viewer gradually gets a complete picture of what transpires. Most of the film is shot in the cavernous warehouse where the gang is to meet up after the heist. There are also scenes of the failed heist and a long opening scene with the gang gathered together in a coffee shop before the robbery begins. There are many scenes of Los Angeles streets and places. The film has a feel of bravura and creativity. The acting is sharp and the dialogue colloquial and profane. There is a sense of spontaneity and abandon enhanced by the reference to popular culture, music film, and language. The film is also wildly violent in its action and in its language. It is known for a torture scene at about mid-point which many viewers have found nearly unbearable. For the most part, the movie seemed to me so self-absorbed, so full of gusto, and so extreme, that it lacked most of the grit of a classic crime movie. It is easy to have questions about the casual violence and killing in this film and in many of Tarrantino's later films. "Reservoir Dogs" has become a cult film and many viewers and critics rate it highly indeed. I admire the hubris and the style of this movie as well as its ability to provoke and entertain. I saw it as much more of a black comedy than a crime film. For me, the film was a guilty pleasure, but more. Robin Friedman

Most all are familiar with this film and have discussed its storyline, music, acting, directing and everything else...so I won't. I will just review the transfer of this film to Blu Ray. If you're a Tarantino fan, this is one for you if you don't already have it. It firmly established him as a director while still early in his career and he has made many great movies since. I do have the standard definition DVD and have watched it numerous times but this will not be a side by side comparison, just a short discussion of the Blu Ray's quality. VIDEO....The transfer of the video is very clean with strong colors despite a muting of the entire color grading throughout the film. Contrast is excellent and details, even some of the very small ones, are clearly defined. The lines of the tiny tiles in the meet-up building are easy to see without a blurring of lines despite the depth of field which brings them slightly out of focus. I saw no dirt or artifacting at any time in the watching of this Blu Ray. Shot on film, naturally there will be a slight patina of grain but it is difficult to really see and is not a viewing problem in the slightest. AUDIO....Now this is a bit odd. For English, you have a choice of a Dolby EX 5.1 audio or a lossless DTS HD 6.1. That is not a typing mistake...the audio is 6.1. Okay, that is great but if they are going to upgrade to a 6.1 audio track let there be information for 6 channels plus the sub. There really isn't. The lossless audio provided clear and transparent dialogue that plenty easy to understand. The audio soundtrack is beautifully spread across the front sound stage and the stereo separation of the typical Tarantino soundtrack is simply great, however, there really is no use of the rear sound stage for anything other than some light ambient echo which is barely discernible. The front surrounds do get some discreet directionality from the left and right surrounds but not a whole lot. Yes, this movie has more dialogue than any real action but when the action does come in the second half of the film, though the sub works nicely for the gunshots, there is not much for the home theater to do. The volume levels are just fine so no need to play with your remote's volume control but, maybe the 6.1 track would have worked better on Tarantino's Django Unchained or Kill Bill 1 & 2. EXTRAS....Some fine deleted scenes and alternate takes of the ear cutting scene. Also a Criminal Minds type profiling of the members of the gang that I found psychologically interesting. From the old SD DVD, there was also included a 'Playing it Fast and Loose' Documentary and an interesting 'Pulp Factoids' extra that pops up little tidbits of info during the course of the film. I discovered this feature after I had finished watching the film. Next time I watch it, I will be sure to have it turned on. Finally, there were also 2 trailers for other films, 'Crank' and one of the 'Saw' films. I really dislike previews on any DVD whether it be Blu Ray or Standard def. You are being forced to pay for commercials when the disc space could go to an even better resolution feature film that you just paid for. All my reviews focus solely on the quality of the transfers to Blu Ray of both video and audio and I do hope that this review has been of some help to you in deciding upon your purchase decisions and that I am on the correct path with this type of review. Thanks for reading.

Though I have mixed feelings about Quentin Tarantino's work in general, I have nothing but praise for Reservoir Dogs. It hasn't dated a bit since its release 10 years ago (though that's because of its almost vintage look to begin with) and still packs a wallop, remaining a bold, exhilarating, unique masterpiece, with all of the energy and fresh creativity of a movie-loving filmmaker but none of the pretensions. I was positively elated at the prospect of this 10th-anniversary re-release, but I must say, the bonus materials are not nearly as satisfying as I thought they would be. First off, the commentary tracks. Tarantino himself is that oddest of species -- many actors and directors are not good at recording commentaries because they're either too bland (too much of "I love this", "I love that") or have an accent (John Woo, for example), but Tarantino's commentary track suffers from too much verbality. Much like his scene in the film Sleep with Me, Tarantino often engages in lengthy verbal diarrhea which often have only cursory relevance to the scene at hand. Producer Monte Hellman is even more irritating; on his commentary he frequently refers to the film as if he'd directed it. Grotesquely annoying. I would much rather have had more of the actors -- Tim Roth's comments on his own work are always wonderfully insightful, and I would have loved to hear Harvey Keitel talk about the film, given his crucial role in getting the film financed. A terrific surprise is cinematographer Andrzej Sekula's commentary. Perceptive, illuminating and devoid of ego, Sekula's commentary really elevated my interpretation of this film. Another surprise commentary is by Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers, whose insight into this film's use of music is very convincing. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the package often smacks of self-importance. The packaging (with a different character/actor on each cover) is cute and not unfitting, but the idea of selling all four in an extremely expensive pack sounds plain greedy, considering all the discs contain the same information. So you'd be paying the price of four double-disc editions solely for the different packaging. They should have simply released a larger boxed set with all the packaging but only two DVDs to cut down on cost. The cut scenes are interesting, and it's obvious from first glance why they were cut (good job, Tarantino and editor Sally Menke), but there really aren't that many of them. Other than that, it seems to me as if the descriptions of the bonus materials on the packaging are much more interesting than what's being offered. An ingenious job in marketing, perhaps, but the bonus materials somehow left me unsatiated. I can't really explain why the seemingly abundant bonus materials somehow left me cold. Criterion Collection DVDs, for example, somehow manage to deliver much more depth: The excellent double-disc issue of Traffic, for example; even Criterion's release of Seven Samurai, with only one excellent, vital commentary track, was highly satisfying. I somehow think if Criterion had re-released Reservoir Dogs on DVD, I would be much happier with the package. As it is, I still watch this film frequently, but don't feel too often tempted to explore the extras.