Monday, January 23, 2012

Dog Soldiers

Directed (and written) by Neil Marshall, Kismet Entertainment Group, 2002.

Starring: Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee, Emma Cleasby and Liam Cunningham.

Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller.

Question: Do you remember the days when you hung out with your friends in the woods with toy guns creating wartime combat scenarios? The plot-line was usually the same but sometimes a friend or two would throw in some super powers they suddenly obtained or they became a fantastical creature that came out of nowhere. Oh, those were the days!

Okay, did I just lose half of my readers? Yes, ladies, this might not be what you did growing up, but when my older brother would allow it, I would jump right in and play along ready to "kill" the next bad guy. Although I was always bummed I could never make the machine gun noises no matter how hard I tried, I still had a blast pretending I was in the middle of a war or fighting off some creature(s). So, when someone suggested, and I finally watched, Dog Soldiers I was immediately thrown back to my 10 year-old inner child.

Honestly, as I was watching Dog Soldiers I kept thinking the film-maker (Neil Marshall) must have never let go of his childhood imagination. His film is about 5-6 British soldiers on a practice mission who run into werewolves that apparently can't die even when shot multiple times with semi-automatic guns.

As usual I don't want to go into much detail about this film - this is a thriller, of sorts. I will say there is a little overacting, some poorly-written dialogue and some over-the-top plot points; however, I think that was all intentional. So you must have a sense of humor while watching Dog Soldiers. It is definitely a B film that had me howling with laughter at certain scenes, covering my eyes over some of 'blood and guts' violence and rolling my eyes at some of the innuendoes.

Also, if you are unfamiliar with British slang, I suggest you click here - this is something I JUST discovered and it might help translate some of the sayings in this movie. A few of the phrases you might not know: 'Big girl's blouse', 'taking the piss', toffee-nosed'. These are used in Dog Soliders, along with a few others, but I'll let you discover what they mean on your own.

If any ladies stuck around for the rest of the review, I can tell you the lead actor in this, Kevin McKidd, is from Grey's Anatomy. So if you have a thing for Dr. Hunt, you might want to watch Dog Soldiers - just don't tell your boyfriend or husband why, but they would probably be too shocked to ask anyway.

This is the perfect movie for the next level of what young-in's like to do in groups: watch cult-like, horror films (that usually scare their little sisters who still want to be a part of the group). So once you've grown out of the 'play outdoors phase', might I suggest Dog Soldiers. However, this is rated R - so if you are under age, please ask your parents, kiddos.

My favorite thing: That I wasn't all that scared watching a horror.

My least favorite thing: Watching some of the gore.

Rating: R
Length: 105 minutes

Review: 5 out of 10

Click on film poster to purchase or view instantly:




No comments: