Review: "Dog Soldiers"

There seems to be no more room in this serious world of ours for the likes of filmmakers like Neil Marshall. I’ll be honest and say that I truly didn’t like “Doomsday” in spite of its bloody homage to a number of classics. The big budget and the over-sexed Rhona Mitra proved almost nothing of his talents and if anything smothered whatever creative fusion that might have resulted from hybridizing “Aliens” with “Mad Max”. A sad chapter in this cult director’s career to say the least. But there may be hope just yet. Twist the clock back several years, all the way back to 2002 (jeez I’m feeling old), and we come up with something far more entertaining. Despite its otherwise corny name, “Dog Soldiers” is one of those few surprising movies that turns your expectations inside out, much in the same way that these werewolves do with the hapless victims whom cross their path. Granted, the movie is essentially a pastiche of every survival-horror-action flick from “Evil Dead” to “Zulu”. But damn if it isn’t a whole lot of fun. Upon a second viewing it’s clear as to why this often silly (but more often bad-ass) story of a British Army squad fighting off a pack of hungry lycanthropes deep in the Scottish Highlands has achieved a cult following over the years. Though the quality might fluctuate depending on the copy you watch, the special effects are pretty damn good for the budget they worked with. Making the best of animatronics, recycled foley tricks and a colorful array of character actors, there’s an unexpected ingenuity to the fast-paced action, tinged with a pervasive but winning combo of sly, frustrated humor. With countless one-liners (“Fetch!”) that seem to address the incredulity we all start to feel by the time the picture rolls into fortress mode, it all feels like a subtle wink from across the room, assuring us that it’s perfectly okay to be shaking our heads in disbelief and wonderment all at once. For those of you who have seen “Rome” or even remember that part he played in Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven”, it’s hard to conceive why in the hell the Scottish-born Kevin McKidd (who plays Private Cooper in “Dogs”) has still not been contracted for more action roles. Particularly in the final sequences, once all hell literally breaks loose, brandishing his steely whites like a gritty mouthpiece, the desperate fury he unleashes reveals such an absence of restraint that it only brings to mind the best of John McClane or Martin Riggs. If you’re the kind of person who liked “Predator”, conceptually or otherwise, you might find this well worth its weight in silver bullets.

In order to stomach this raw little hors d’ouevre, one must: A.) Abandon any prejudice whatsoever against character clichés B.) Steel themselves against an even worse soundtrack. C.) Adore either Nazi Zombies or “American Werewolf in London”.