Pacing/editing issues.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Reservoir Dogs
Chronic_Johnson — 6 years ago(January 19, 2020 04:45 PM)
I was enjoying the film more than any other Tarantino film until all the flashback scenes that are bunched together after
Orange admits he's a cop
, it brings the narrative to a halt just to show us a bunch of scenes, some of which are completely needless as you can fill in the blanks yourself from what characters have said. I enjoyed some of these scenes, like when Orange is telling his fictitious story about the cops in the bathroom, and some scenes that develop the characters a bit more. But that said, none of these characters have all that much depth to them anyway.
I don't know if it was how it was written, shot, or edited, but something about how they show
Brown's death just doesn't seem like it was executed properly.
Obviously the ear scene is iconic, but I also liked the scenes prior to it where the characters were isolated to one location, facing paranoia about who could be the rat. It reminded me of John Carpenter's The Thing, but with scumbag criminals. It just really starts to fall apart when it's all flashbacks. It's a fairly short film as it is, so I guess Tarantino needed padding. But just like with Pulp Fiction, I think the constant narrative shifts back and forth in time are annoying and overrated. Chopping **** up and putting them out of order doesn't make your film any better. It's not creative or well-written unless you tie it into an overarching theme or character trait (Irreversible, Memento, respectively).
If Pulp Fiction had events in chronological order, it would be a dull crime film with a couple of good, memorable scenes drowned out by terrible plot devices and a boring premise.
I still like Reservoir Dogs a lot more than Pulp Fiction, but I'm finding the more Tarantino I watch, the more predictable and boring his films are. Yes, he can write dialogue well, and he can nail over-the-top violent moments. His characters are often entertaining to watch, and you always want to see it through to the end, but you come out of it with a fairly forgettable experience.
6/10