10 Harsh Truths We Don't Want To Admit About Awesome Movies

9. Reservoir Dogs Is A Shameless Rip-Off

resevoir dogs ending We all know that Tarantino is a master of "pastiche" - that's lifting from earlier films in a way that's ironic and inventive - but his debut film, the one that brought him to the forefront of American independent cinema, Reservoir Dogs, is a big fat ripoff. The plot is simple; a diamond heist goes bust, and the surviving bad guys all begin questioning each other over who ratted them out, which is exactly the same plot as Ringo Lam's naturally undervalued 1987 Hong Kong actioner City on Fire. Everything from the shell plot to the Mexican stand-off has been lifted; Tarantino got away with it because he made the characters more colourful (literally and figuretively), while including a spate of pop-culture references so it all felt very fresh and Western. Props to the guy; he built an entire career on being ahead of the curve essentially, which wouldn't wash in today's digital age of easily-accessible foreign cinema.
 
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