Movie Review | Dog Eat Dog (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Dog Eat Dog (UK Rating: 18)

It's clear from the very beginning that this is meant to be a dark comedy, and the cast actually seems to work. Willem Dafoe as Mad Dog is clearly the best at his role, but, unfortunately, he's such a racist pervert he's really hard to like. What's worse, he's clearly only racist for the sake of it, as he definitely enjoys the company of women of all colours. This doesn't mean he's not repugnant, and he's definitely still racist, but it makes his racism all the more jarring and offensive. He clearly uses these women, and makes no disguise of it.

Christopher Cook plays Diesel, who's the most likeable character. He clearly empathises with the women, and enjoys talking to them, something Mad Dog and Troy can't seem to really grasp all too well. Unfortunately, the character speaks like he's reading from the script at the right moment. Cook does a fine job, but his lines are largely meant to either make him look like a criminal with a lot of knowledge, or an angry sociopath, far removed from his much smarter Dr. Jekyll.

Troy is brought to life by Nicolas Cage, and he's the anchor making sure the ship doesn't float away. In one particularly uncomfortable scene, he is attempting to have a sexual relationship with a woman he's just met. Now, the film could have made him sick and disgusting, but they choose to make him wax on about seeing the world and all the beauty in it. Sadly, Cage doesn't give the speech enough depth, and it sounds more like someone's clearly unhip dad telling kids how much he likes "the reefer, bruh." He's erratic throughout the whole film, but he keeps this level of unhip trying to be hip for the entire duration of the film.

It would be one thing if this was a satirical piece; for instance, Mad Dog's not the only one who loves racial slurs, but it all seems out of place. Sometimes, a movie set in the Bronx in the 1800s, or even 1970s, has a degree of truth to the way people are talking. However, every indication points to Dog Eat Dog being set in 2016 Ohio. The racial slurs aren't the only problem. Everyone has met a kid who just learned the F-word and is insisting on saying it every five seconds. Well, that continues here, into these men's mid-40s, and because the movie appears to be taking itself seriously, it's all but impossible to like any of the "heroes."

The greatest moment is when Dafoe starts to remind viewers why he's a fantastic actor. His performance later on is hauntingly realistic as he realises he can't continue living as he has. For all the quick cut drug euphoria, as much as his character is a racist, over swearing, perverted monster, he clearly gets that as much as the audience does. Disappointingly, this leads nowhere. To paraphrase Chris Rock, "You can be as offensive as you want, but there's gotta be a joke there." This film just adds layer upon layer of offensiveness, and never really gives those watching any pay-off for all the cringing they have been doing for the past near-enough hour and a half.

4/10

Subpar

Dog Eat Dog is a gritty drug and gangster film that clearly wants to be as gritty and edgy as the other's in its genre, but only manages to be offensive, and rarely make sense. While there may be some stellar actors in this lot, their performances are either forgettable, confusing, or so detestable that it's impossible to root for anything other than their failure.