Reservoir Dogs [15th Anniversary Edition]

This high definition MPEG-2/1080p transfer is quite striking and the level of detail was better than I had expected. The film has always suffered from an overabundance of the color green and I found the new Blu-ray transfer was not nearly as heavy in its usage of green as the older releases. I had always considered it to have been a stylistic choice of Tarantino, but now view it as a deficiency of the DVD releases. The film was not shot with the best film stock or equipment, but the newly remastered print hides many of the flaws that were readily viewable in previous versions. Detail is very good, and film grain is far less apparent noticeably better than before. Black levels are deeper than they ever have been. I did find a few moments of posterization, but it was hardly intrusive or lessened my enjoyment of the film in hi-def. Owning the first two releases of "Reservoir Dogs" that hit DVD, I can definitely say that the image quality of this Blu-ray release answers the question of passing over the standard definition 15th Anniversary edition a positive yes. Visuals are certainly the strength of this release.

Sound:
Before getting into the quality of the sound, I feel as if I must give Quentin Tarantino some credit for his musical selections in his films. All three of his pictures feature absolutely incredible soundtracks. Tarantino has a knack for discovering older music and applying them to his films. "Pulp Fiction" had a great combination of classic rock, funk, and surfer music. "Jackie Brown" mixed classic rock with Seventies soul. "Reservoir Dogs" throws in everything from Stealer´s Wheel´s "Stuck In The Middle" to "Little Green Bag" to a country selection or two. This is a great example of the music from the Seventies, and the music of "Reservoir Dogs" was certainly a taste of things to come from Tarantino in regards to soundtrack selections.

Lionsgate appeases our desire to hear Tarantino´s wonderful creation with very good sounding audio mixes. A DTS HD Audio 6.1 channel multichannel surround mix and a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX surround track is also included. The multichannel mixes found on the "Reservoir Dogs" Blu-ray release delivers the music selections with energy and power and does a great job with the dialog and sound effects. All five channels and the .1 LFE channel come alive when the music is playing. Gunshots ring nicely through the entire soundstage and the dialogue heavy picture brings every phonetic sound clearly. From a sound perspective, these musical numbers are the best audible moments of the film. The rest of the film is nearly all dialogue driven, and much of the film takes place in an empty warehouse. However, the soundtrack does a great job of providing small ambient noises that bring a feeling of realism to the films scenes. Though the film will still not excite anybody with being overly impressive, but Blu-ray certainly allows "Reservoir Dogs" to sound better than it ever has before. The DTS track is marginally better than the Dolby Digital mix, but they are both good sounding mixes.

Extras:
Here is where the "And no" comes in. "Reservoir Dogs" is a disaster on Blu-ray when you compare the two "15th Anniversary Edition" releases to one-another. Even compared to the older 10th Anniversary release, the Blu-ray release of "Reservoir Dogs" is horribly disappointing. The next time that Best Buy has the standard definition release for $9.95, I will be picking up a copy because this release is almost completely devoid of bonus content. The only mentionable extra included on the disc was the Pulp Factoids Viewer which delivers video pop-ups detailing some nice and interesting pop-ups of information related to the film and its various sources of information. Though the pop-ups were a bit scarce at times, I enjoyed sitting back and waiting for the next one.

Playing it Fast and Loose (15:44) features Harry Knowles and other critics and media-type personalities describing the impact of the film and their thoughts on it. A number of people jump up on the screen and after a while, it gets tedious keeping track of the talking heads. Basically, you just get to hear what other people think of the film and learn little about it. Profiling the Reservoir Dogs (7:05) is a very quick Powerpoint-like presentation on some of the main characters in the film and provides a profile on their behaviors. It does provide a little more character depth to the characters, but is honestly quite forgettable. There are also six Deleted Scenes (12:42) and this is easily the best supplement of the release, though considering it is available on the older 10th Anniversary edition, I had seen them before. Also from Lionsgate are snippet previews of other releases coming to Blu-ray. As much as I love this film, I was very disappointed in the supplemental materials, especially when compared to the orgasmic list of features on the standard definition release.

Closing Thoughts:
"Reservoir Dogs" is an incredible film and a film I love dearly. It is violent and bloody. The infamous "Stuck in the Middle" scene is simply brutal. Regardless of the amount of violence, "Reservoir Dogs" is also a very intelligent film with great performances and a powerful story. The first Blu-ray release is disappointment because of its lack of supplements, but provides the absolute best sound and picture available for the film. That alone may warrant an upgrade from the two most recent standard definition DVD releases, but if you are looking for the best experience in regards to the film itself, this is a no-brainer. If supplements and value-added content matter, then the standard definition release is the definitive and far better value of the two. I was excited by how good the Blu-ray release looked and sounded, but when I didn´t have access to the immense number of supplements on the metal-can packaged DVD, my heart sunk. I would have been overly happy if this was a 2-disc release with the second disc being a DVD and not a Blu-ray, but with the bonus materials. At least I can take comfort in knowing that the 20th Anniversary release will be a lot better.

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