Well this is my fourth DVD review so far and I have been wondering which DVD to review. I have decided to review a great film that introduced one of the greatest film makers of his generation.
Reservoir Dogs
This is the newly released Region 2 Special Edition that contains over 3 hours of special features.
Film premise:
Based in a warehouse, in the aftermath of a jewel heist gone wrong.
Film Review:
When you see the first 5 minutes of this film you know for a fact that this film is new breed of film, or rather an old breed brought back to life. In the mid 80’s to the mid 90’s most of the films that got made were all out action movies. From the start you got placed into a situation, you don’t know how you got there but you were there and you had to deal with it.Quentin Tarantino changed this. He made a film that gives you a history of the events and the characters a lot of critics say he does this in flashbacks but they are wrong, I have always felt that it’s just how Quentin Tarantino “feeds” us the information. Quentin Tarantino has stated that this is just “the order of information that the author has decided to tell the story in” A flashback is a character thinking about an earlier event in their lives.
How Quentin shot this movie was also unique for the early 90’s, take the car seen near the start of this movie when Harvey Keitel is comforting an injured Tim Roth. Most directors would use at least two stationary cameras, one on Tim and the other on Harvey, Quentin doesn’t do this he use’s one camera that seamlessly sweeps back and forth from character to character. This is a great film, an amazing film considering that this was Tarantino’s debut.
Video Quality:
The picture quality is very good; the film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35.1. All of the colours are vivid and I never detected any sign of edge enhancement or compression artefacts.
Every so often you will notice specks of dust, but they are so scarce that it’s not an issue. The film is not perfect you can see slight film grain, but it is so slight that you will find it hard to notice.
Verdict: 8/10
Sound Quality:
The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.
The centre channel is very clear and defined and it gets the most use during this film, as there is more talking than action which makes a change from the usual action film.
I am afraid that the surround sound is not amazing, the rear speakers only get used once or twice during the film, most of the time they seem to duplicate the front channels but at a softer volume.
The music on the other hand has never sounded better making good use of all of the speakers.
Verdict: 6/10
[b]Extras:
Disc one:[/b]
Audio Commentary – This is one of the reasons why I wanted this DVD, I am a big fan of Quentin Tarantino and I wanted to get his views on his debut film.
It is not just Quentin on the commentary he is joined by: Crew members: Lawrence Bender, Sally Menke, Andrezej Sekula, Monte Hellman and Actors Chris Penn, Tim Roth Michael Madsen, and Kirk Baltz.
This has to be the biggest let down on the DVD, The commentary is just snippets of interviews from everybody that has been edited together to make one seamless track.
Trailer – The trailer seems to have an aspect ratio of 1:85, the quality is average but so is every trailer on every DVD.
Verdict: 5/10
Disc Two:
Original Interviews with Tarantino and Staff – Chris Penn, Kirk Baltz, Michael Madsen, Lawrence bender, Tim Roth and Quentin Tarantino all give the views on the making of this film.
All of the interviews offer a very informative behind the scenes look at the making of this film. They are all worth watching and they will make you laugh more than one!
Class of ’92 - This contains interviews with all of the winners and nominees of the 1992 Sundance Film festival. All of the directors and members of the Sundance review board give their views on the results of the festival. It’s worth watching once but I don’t think many people will sit through it multiple times; there just is not enough information to keep you engrossed.
Deleted Scenes:
1 – Background Check
2 – No Protection
3 – Doing My Job
4 - Cutting off the Ear Version A
5 - Cutting off the Ear Version B
The first three deleted scenes give a more in-depth view of Tim Roth’s character, you can see why they were cut from the final film, they would of interfered with the pacing of the film, you really don’t need to know anymore about Tim Roth’s character in the film so these scenes become more or less redundant.
The Infamous Ear seen has two more angles which is great. I its good to see a scene from different angles but you can tell why they didn’t use them in the final film, they capture too much detail of the ear and as a result you tell its fake.
Film Noir Files -Writers and directors discus Film Noir, From Novels to film.
It is a highly interesting documentary and if you are a fan of the genre then I suggest that you do not miss it. It is not really related to Reservoir Dogs, but as I say it more to do with the genre.
Securing the shot: Location scouting with Billy Fox - This documentary has a voice over by Billy Fox. He talks about why they chose certain locations to shoot the film and where they were located.
This is only a short featurett but it is very interesting and you also get to see photographs of the original locations which I thought was good as you could see what they changed for the film.
The reservoir tributes -Quentin Tarantino talks about his favourite directors and films. The cast and crew also send their tributes out to Lawrence Tierney who past away in 2002.
This is defiantly worth watching, if you only watch one extra on this DVD set you must watch this. It is interesting and amusing, one of the best features I have seen in a while.
Packaging - The packaging is a very nice Digipak, which I believe is available in six different versions. There are five versions featuring each gangster on a separate cover then there is one cover with all of the colour coded gangsters on.
There is also a collector’s booklet. The booklet contains information on what medium first show cased Reservoir Dogs as it was originally intended to be seen. Also it explains about the films cultural impact and other aspects of the film.
Verdict: 8.5/10
Final Verdict:
This is a great film from one of the greatest directors of the last 20 years and I can proudly say that it has a DVD just as good.
The packaging and booklet are beautiful, the case is sturdy so it will not get creased or bent any time soon.
The picture and sound are extremely good, they have there short comings but on the whole are very good.
The only disappointment with this DVD release is the commentary; it is all just little snippets of interviews edited together. They should have done a commentary featuring the cast and a separate commentary featuring crew members.
If you are a fan of this film or just a fan of Quentin Tarantino then I highly recommend that you purchase this DVD set, I have not done any side by side comparisons but from memory the picture is a lot better than the original DVD release, that coupled with the special features makes this DVD worth buying even though you my own the original release.
Final verdict: 8/10