An action thriller dubbed an “absolute masterpiece” by fans will soon be taken off Netflix. Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 American heist film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length directorial debut.
It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunker as diamond thieves whose heist of a jewellery store goes terribly wrong. The film incorporates many motifs that have become Tarantino’s hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture references, profanity, and nonlinear storytelling.
Reservoir Dogs is regarded as a significant and influential milestone in independent filmmaking. One Letterboxd reviewer said that it is “insane that Tarantino’s first movie was an absolute masterpiece”, with Reddit users agreeing, saying was a “stunning debut”. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 90% based on 81 reviews, and an average rating of 8.9/10. The critical consensus reads, “Thrumming with intelligence and energy, Reservoir Dogs opens Quentin Tarantino’s filmmaking career with hard-hitting style”.
On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 81 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating “universal acclaim”. Empire magazine named it the “Greatest Independent Film” ever made.
At the film’s release at the Sundance Film Festival, film critic Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News compared the effect of Reservoir Dogs to that of the 1895 film L’Arrivée d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat, when audiences supposedly saw a moving train approaching the camera and ducked. Bernard said that Reservoir Dogs had a similar effect and people were not ready for it.
Vincent Canby of The New York Times enjoyed the cast and the usage of non-linear storytelling. He similarly complimented Tarantino’s directing and appreciated the fact that he rarely used close-ups in the film.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times also enjoyed the film and the acting, particularly that of Buscemi, Tierney and Madsen, and said: “Tarantino’s palpable enthusiasm, his unapologetic passion for what he’s created, reinvigorates this venerable plot and, mayhem aside, makes it involving for longer than you might suspect.”
In 2024, Reservoir Dogs was ranked second on the Sundance Film Festival’s list of the Top 10 Films of All Time, based on a survey conducted among 500 filmmakers and critics in honour of the festival’s 40th anniversary.
Reservoir Dogs is being removed from Netflix today, according to New on Netflix. Other Tarantino films still on Netflix include Django Unchained and Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
