![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/r/reservoirdogs_10ae.jpg)
Reservoir Dogs: 10th Anniversary Edition
Perhaps the most significant independent film of the 1990s, Reservoir Dogs is a stylish (if low budget) fusion of late-1980s video store arcanity: 1970s bubble-gum thrillers, Sam Fuller-density dialog, French New Wave temporal dislocation, and MSG-heavy Hong Kong gangster melodrama. A gang of professional criminals is assembled for a quick, lucrative diamond heist. But during the holdup something goes wrong. Blood, cops, a chaotic getaway, and the group — what's left of them — reconvene at their rendezvous spot to tend to the wounded and sniff out the suspected traitor in their midst. Old loyalties are strained, new loyalties develop, and lots of guns are pointed — Mexican Standoff style — at other cocked firearms. Tarantino's oft-mimicked, brilliant technique is supplemented by a stellar cast: Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen and Chris Penn all giving performances on a par with their very best. Artisan's 10th Anniversary Special Edition is a two-disc set available with several different covers, each featuring a different member of the film's gang. The first disc features the movie in a great, remastered anamorphic transfer (2.35:1) with dynamic DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks. There is an audio commentary with Tarantino, producer Lawrence Bender, Executive Producer Monte Hellman, Director of Photography Andrzej Sekula, editor Sally Menke, and actors Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen and Kirk Balz. Also on Disc One are cast/crew Interviews, deleted scenes, and a trailer. Disc Two features the film in a 4:3 full screen transfer with Dolby 2.0 Surround. Also on board are three Critics Commentaries with Amy Taubin, Peter Travers and Emanuel Levy, audio featurettes, a retrospective look at the Sundance wunderkinds of 1992, Sundance's 1991 Film Lab performance of an early script draft, Tribute and Dedications to Tarantino's influences, genre featurette "The Film Noir Web" with a text-based bibliography of Tarantino influences, featurettes on the film's action figures and locations, the "Reservoir Dogs Style Guide," and a poster gallery. Dual-DVD slimline keep-case with paperboard slipcover.
—Gregory P. Dorr
