Reservoir Dogs - A Lesson In Storytelling

I don't think that it would be controversial to say that Reservoir Dogs is a simple story it focuses on a half dozen criminals holed up in a warehouse after a jewelry heist goes terribly wrong and they're cutting between the aftermath but also be set up in the heist itself this choice to enter cut rather than have the narrative play linearly serves a few purposes first and perhaps most importantly it allows for big reveals and this is a movie full of reveals if for example we went into the heist knowing that mr. orange was an undercover cop have a student gem take a big fat guess of insanity who had changed not only our perception of him but also the other characters but purely on a more technical level I think the nonlinear structure serves two purposes first to build and maintain momentum and second to introduce and develop characters today I would like to examine how Reservoir Dogs uses these two elements momentum and its characters to enhance its story and forever leave its mark on filmmaking first I want to discuss how the film uses its nonlinear structure to reveal information which keeps the momentum rising I'd say that there are three major adrenaline moments mr. orange in the back of the car bleeding out mr. orange shooting and killing mr. blonde in the final Mexican standoff these are high intense moments in an otherwise tame movie okay tame probably wasn't the best word but what I really mean is that this is a movie that holds back and now you probably think I'm crazy because this is a movie or someone literally gets their ear cut off I'm saying that this is a movie that folds back but think about the ear cutting scene itself we don't see the act and we don't need to we know exactly what is going on but just minutes later where mr. orange kills mr. blonde the impact feels so much more real because we actually get to see the act and this is the trend that we see throughout the entire movie only showing enough to keep our attention we hear more about the actual heist than we see of it I turn around and all these cops are outside took a cop hostages to get the [ __ ] out of there and this is the movie that demands your complete attention every scene is full of dialogue some conversations are essential to following the story while others are well Tarantino being Tarantino but whenever these story starts to slow down Tarantino will often flashback to an exciting moment from earlier the three aforementioned moments served to bookend the film's to acts because risk for dogs is a two-act film act one asks and answers the question who is the cop I know well Act two focuses on the ramifications of this being revealed now this is undeniably a very simple set up but it's effective and the reason why it works so well is that Reservoir Dogs isn't about the narrative it's about its characters and with that I want to break down an examine before major characters mr. orange proves to be the most important character in the film each of these three narrative beats revolves around him he creates the central conflict after he is shot and introduces the moral question of should we help him even though it may hurt us in the second act he introduces yet another moral quandary his storyline asks the question is he better than the people around him at first I answer it seemed like a definitive yes the undercover cop is certainly a stronger moral figure than the criminals that he surrounds himself with but the film makes that line much more ambiguous while mr. orange may convince himself that everything he does is for the greater good of society when he is put into action he proves to be just as heartless as those around him he shoots and kills a woman trying to defend herself in her car from being stolen he becomes so engrossed in his role the villain that he ultimately becomes one he is brought out of his comfort zone and behaves irrationally in a great article dr. J Richard PhD diagnoses mr. orange is someone with narcissistic personality disorder essentially saying that mr. orange pushes his world too far and he loses part of himself Richard writes that mr. orange is the great impostor he master trickster the bluffer a Machiavellian the film is set in LA near Hollywood the capital of illusion were thousands of people dedicate themselves to great performances every day now I don't want to dive too deep into the meaning of his assigned color is the arm but given his role in my enforcement might be easy to change mr. orange to Agent Orange a weapon that was intended to stop bad people but ended up doing more harm to society I don't mean for this to turn into a discussion of the Vietnam War but I do feel like it's an apt comparison mr. pink may be the best criminal of the lodge we're supposed to be [ __ ] professionals I think the tipping conversation from the opening scene helps reveal a lot about his character he doesn't have sympathy for others he's willing to chip when others do an exceptional job all right I mean I'll sip if somebody really deserves a tip if they really put forth the effort I'll give him something extra but I mean this tipping automatically is for the birds over the most part his concern is with himself he's one to panic and he likes to have his bases covered so when things go wrong he is brought out of his comfort zone however even when he is uncomfortable he still behaves rationally and this happens in a few ways first he hasn't trust the other members this still puts him in a conundrum because he needs to trust the other criminals to an extent if he wants to survive and make it out of the current situation for him it's all about finding leverage wherever he can he's also the only one who knows where the diamonds are this further complicates everything for the other criminals because they know that they need him in the end he's able to best the other criminals at first he tries to de-escalate the situation attempting to talk down to criminals after that grooves to be unsuccessful he does the last thing that he can hides and cleans up the mess that everyone else started killing Eddie and taking the jewels and he would have gotten away if not for the one thing he didn't account for the police mr. white can be described as the professional criminal you're supposed to have like a [ __ ] professional psychopath a new profession he understands right from wrong has a very defined set of morals the thing is his morals are very unconventional he's someone who from a very young age has been exposed to violence not his moral compass change to reflect it he is loyal to a fault to his fellow criminals and a risk his own life to try and protect mr. orange someone who he cares for and trusts at the same time he is someone who is more than willing to brutally kill police officers who stand in his way [Music] he also has no loyalty to mr. blonde someone who he views the liability to the mission mr. white has been raised since a very young age to be the perfect tool for a heist like this he's cool calm and collected but more than willing to do anything and everything when needed psychologist Robert D hare uses Reservoir Dogs as as example to compare Psychopaths and sociopaths according to hare mr. white is a psychopath someone who is professional and loyal but willing to do inhumane things for the betterment of the group and for the betterment of himself mr. blonde on the other hand is a sociopath someone who enjoys killing and enjoys torture and enjoys living in chaos he has no regard for anybody but himself I think it would be safe to assume that during his time in prison something changed with him he snapped and became unglued something which ultimately becomes his downfall his chaotic personality doesn't work in a cohesive group the rest tried to be synergetic and together he strives for the exact opposite because he thrives best and chaos all four of these characters and all the rest of the characters we see in the films of that matter are incredibly different from one another what are the biggest critiques I read of Tarantino's films is that all of his characters act and talk the same way a little bit like camps and while it is undeniably true to an extent the biggest reason why I feel like ways where our dogs work so well so we are presented with a group of very different characters in a confined space all trying to out think and out survive the other and that's all that this movie is a simple setup that allows for a complex outcome everything serves this one purpose driving conflict and creating an unforgettable cinematic experience hey everyone I hope you enjoyed Reservoir Dogs is one of those movies that I'll often come back to and just have on in the background alone doing something else but when you sit down and really focus on it it becomes clear how all these pieces fit with one another and work together so well if it's been a while since you last watched it I certainly encourage you to revisit it it really holds up well but also to mention that this video is made possible because of patreon if you're interested in supporting the channel this is the best way to do so there are a lot of great rewards over there including early access a bonus audio commentary and even getting a say in what videos come next so if you're interested there's a link on-screen there's also a link to my last video in which I looked at Chinatown and why that's the greatest screenplay of all time so if you're interested in that check it out and thank you for watching

Channel: Jack's Movie Reviews

Views: 274,194

Keywords: Analysis, film, Movie review, film analysis, video essay, jacks movie reviews, quentin tarantino, film theory, reservoir dog, reservoir dogs

Id: CoM8AlEyjws

Length: 10min 28sec (628 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 25 2018