This is my first movie review post and so I find it so totally appropriate that I'm going to review Neil Marshall's sophomore effort from 2002, Dog Soldiers, which centers around a bunch of armed lads duking it out with werewolves somewhere in the highlands of Scotland. I truly enjoyed it, I'll just say that. A lot of bloody fun, really.
We meet these hungry and constantly pissed off werewolves after just about 15 minutes into the movie, so I'm not giving anything away by telling you that they are the mystery creatures of the film. Quickly, the plot works like this: army soldiers dropped into the woods for field exercises. Find werewolves. Try to kill them, unsuccessfully. Saved by a pretty field scientist stationed in the woods. Hole up in a cottage. Try to kill werewolves again. Werewolves try to kill army guys. And on like that for a while. Like I said, bloody good fun.
A bunch of Scottish army blokes about to be dog food
I picked up this movie because Neil Marshall also wrote and directed The Descent, which I absolutely loved. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the leads in Dog Soldiers was none other than Kevin McKidd, who I was reintroduced to through the miniseries Rome a couple years ago. He played Lucius Vorenus, a loyal Roman soldier employed to do Antony and Augustus Caesar's dirty work. I first saw him in Trainspotting as Tommy, and when I first started watching Rome I couldn't believe it was the same guy.
Kevin McKidd as Cooper in Dog Soldiers
Kevin McKidd as Tommy in Trainspotting (second from right)
So there are a few different plot twists in Dogs which work pretty well. Especially when you realize that they have somewhat of a vampire like ability in that if they bite or scratch you, sooner or later you'll change into one of them. And we learn early on that these werewolves are somewhat intelligent (they open the zipper of a tent in the beginning instead of just tearing it to shreds, unfortunately for a naughty couple inside who are into some heavy petting) and they taunt some of the soldiers with the body parts of their friends.
I think Dog Soldiers succeeds, too, in not taking itself too seriously. Sure, the script could've used a bit more humor, but it's a difficult task to make the audience actually care about the soldiers by setting up their backstories, and then have all hell break loose with limbs flying everywhere and big wolf creatures tearing everything all up. Marshall keeps it nice and even. The various characters aren't just one dimensional caricatures or cliches. The Descent worked that way too. Sooner or later we know a lot of the characters are gonna bite the big one, but Marshall invests plenty of time up front so we really get to know these ill-fated people.
The creatures themselves are scary enough...More full on wolf or dog head attached to about a 7 foot humanoid frame. Yeah, scary enough to not ever want to see one when you're walking through the woods. For my money, though, still not as scary as the gollum-like creatures living deep within The Descent's Appalachian caves. So, Dog Soldiers definitely gets my recommendation. You know, in some ways this movie is the anti-Twilight take on our traditional monsters...these particular werewolves here aren't trying to score with girls at the local highschool or trying to integrate into society. They're living out in the woods, they're hungry, and they love the flesh of Scottish people.
One of the cave crawlers from The Descent
No comments:
Post a Comment