Reservoir Dogs was the directorial debut of the famous Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is famous for his penchant for violence and vulgarity in movies like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and most recently Django Unchained. In preparation for seeing his newest movie, The Hateful Eight, which comes out later this year, viewers should go back to his roots.
Reservoir Dogs takes a spin on the heist genre by never showing the heist.  Instead, viewers see the aftermath and how the criminals behind the heist deal with the repercussions of their actions. They believe the heist was botched by an undercover police officer hiding in their ranks. The tensions rise as fingers are pointed, guns are raised, and relationships are questioned.
Reservoir Dogs is my favorite Tarantino movie.  It does a great job building tension, and the grit makes you feel more invested in the story.  It sets up many of the trademarks of Tarantino’s movies, such as a nonlinear narrative and music reminiscent of one of Mr. Vicary’s mix tapes. The movie also leaves out the element of revenge that I feel has become a plague of Tarantino’s movies recently as it has been the central focus in his last four movies: Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglorious Bastards, and Django Unchained. Reservoir Dogs also has a nice, old, homemade feel that I really like in movies as it was made with a modest 1.2 million dollar budget.
The movie had Tarantino’s purest passion as he had everything to lose, seeing it was his first movie. Reservoir Dogs is a solid, intense, and gripping thriller that makes it a Netflix favorite of mine.