The running time is 1 hr. 40 mins..
Reservoir Dogs was Quentin Tarantino's first major directorial outing and his second major script after the sale of True Romance. It is a film I wasn't sure exactly how much I liked it when I first saw it, but over the years it has grown on me. I think my appreciation of this movie has grown primarily due to the fact that I look at movies a different way now, I look at performances differently and I think when it comes to Tarantino it takes a certain level of film appreciation to truly enjoy his movies for more than just the violence.
This movie about a heist that has gone bad is more than just the ultra-violent experience a lot of people will describe it as. In fact the infamous "ear scene" is far less violent than I think a majority of people will remember it to be, but that isn't even the greatest thing about that scene. Of course the removal of someone's ear is definitely jarring, but when accompanied by "Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel and the performance by Michael Madsen that is so cool, so calm and altogether maniacal it creates a scene that is just as more a story of who Madsen's character is rather than a scene to shock audience's with a gory moment that you don't even see. That is Reservoir Dogs. This is a talky, dialogue driven film that if looked at as a violent film probably won't be liked, but if you look beyond the violence and at the guys involved and their motivations you are going to get a lot more out of it.
As for this 15th Anniversary Edition I already told you the packaging is cool, and it is. I have had several people notice it and appreciate it. If you are one of those super fans of this film you almost have to buy it just for that reason, but if you already own it and don't give a shit about the packaging you may want to reconsider.
On disc one you get the newly remastered widescreen version of the film accompanied by a 6.1 DTS soundtrack. This is followed up by a pop-up trivia track over the film and a spliced together audio commentary. The pop-up isn't too bad, even if the graphics are horrid, but the audio commentary is really distracting. It bounces around introducing several mini-interviews with several people, but if it isn't Tarantino I was pretty much tuning it all out. There are also three mini critics’ interviews with Amy Taubin, Peter Travers from "Rolling Stone" and author Emanuel Levy. The best of this bunch is hearing Travers talk about the film from a primarily music perspective. These were also available on the previous edition.
The deleted scenes are a repeat from the 10th Anniversary Edition as is the "K-BILLY interactive radio," the "Tribute to Lawrence Tierney," the "Class of '92" Sundance Film Festival retrospective and a location scouting segment taking a look at where the film was shot. Some interview footage didn't make the jump from the earlier release but this release claims a new 15 minute documentary on the film called "Playing it Fast and Loose" and the doc is okay, but I can't seem to shake the distraction that is Harry Knowles out of my head, "You know?" Then you have the simple and equally boring "Profiling The Reservoir Dogs" which gives us silly little stories about the characters which is almost as stupid as the "Tipping Guide" showing you what Mr. Pink, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Orange and Mr. White would tip in several different instances. Yeah, not exciting in the least and if you think I care guess again.
The second disc wraps with a stupid little "Reservoir Dolls" feature which shows the "ear scene" as acted out by dolls. Yeah, dolls. Then there is the supposed to be exclusive, yet obviously commercial-like preview of the new Reservoir Dogs game, which is then followed up by trailers for more Lionsgate releases.
There are three things to consider when deciding if you should buy this DVD. 1) If you don't own this movie yet this is the version to buy. 2) If you already own this movie then you have to consider how important sound and audio are because this movie does have newly remastered video and a better audio track than the previous releases. 3) How cool do you think the gas can packaging is? Honestly I think it is cool as hell and would probably buy this version over any other, but that has more to do with the better video and audio, but the packaging puts it over the top.