The Dogs of War

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Summary: Dogs of War
Review: This is a great movie! Lots of action, well crafted production.
I read the book first and prefer its ending to that of the film.
However, it is still a fine tale and well worth seeing several times.

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Summary: Well Crafted Mercenary Tale
Review: This is a well crafted story about the otherthrowing of a brutal West African dictatorship through a mercenary run coup d'tat. The film meticulously follows the plot from the reconesance operation to the planning stages through the actual coup. Christopher Walken plays Shannon, the leader of the mercenaries. Walken does solid, but not remarkable work here but he cannot be faulted for that. The film is more concerned with the nuts and bolts of the story and not so with characterization. Shannon's personal life is dealt with perfunctorily, such as his failed marriage, but is quickly dropped. A major character dies in battle but the audience can't really feel for him because we never really got to know him. Covert ops and military hardware take precedence. Gotta love them Uzis and Gats. If you are looking for good storytelling with little or no emotional attachment to the characters this is the film for you.

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Summary: A war-movie without heroism or melodrama.
Review: This must be one of the most unique movies ever made. Nearly every movie portraying war ends up as being either too melodramatic, using metaphores all over the place ( like Full Metal Jacket ) Or it becomes a hero piece. Dogs of War does neither. Forsyth's rather slow-moving story about a group of mercenaries fighting a private war on behalve of a mining company has been juiced up and stripped of the unnecessary parts. This has resulted in a suspenceful story, that keeps the audience in its grip from beginning to end. With good acting from Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger and excellent directing by John Irving Dogs of War gives an unglamorous and realistic image of war.

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Summary: Terrific action adventure film about mercenaries in Africa.
Review: Three films have depicted the African mercenary: Dark of the Sun, The Wild Geese, and The Dogs of War. All are great, but Dogs is by far the most credible. The book, incidentally, is even better than the movie. This is truly Walken's best role and must have been the supporting role that gave Tom Berenger his big break in Platoon. Of course it's violent; what else do you expect from a war movie about mercs?

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Summary: Good film, not great
Review: Walken revises his role in the Deer Hunter here, playing a mercenary involved in one of those politically torn countries down yonder. Its a good movie, from the early 1980's, but if you have the Deer Hunter already, you wont need this. I am a big Walker fan- i think he is brilliant, but otherwise there isnt much to this film. Still, its one of only a hundred films that I hand picked for my life-time collection.

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Summary: Intelligent Film on Mercenaries
Review: Well done film on four mercenaries hired by a corporation to overthrow the brutal dictator of a small African nation. Christopher Walken, the mercenary commander, plays the role very well. The film follows him and his merc partners on their escape from a fallen Central American nation, to their assault in Africa. Walken's character conducts a dangerous reconnaissance in the African country before the assault, barely escaping with his life. The film slows down a bit after the reconnaissance when Walken wants to retire from his profession and settle down, causing viewers to become impatient while they wait for his predictable return to launching the mission. What follows is the interesting process of the mercs planning and preparing for the mission, all while under the threat from a prying reporter, a mysterious observer, and of course the law. Eventually when they conduct their attack, the film provides an exciting battle sequence, all the way from their infiltration to the intense assault on the dictator's compound against a larger force of government soldiers. The film is realistic, brutal, and intelligent.

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Summary: 'Vive Le Mort, Vive La Guerre, Vive Le Sacre Mercenaire!!'
Review: While Dogs of War is not as exciting and crowd-pleasing as the gold-standard in mercenary movies, The Wild Geese, it is certainly the most thoughtful. It starts off slow, spending over two-thirds of the film setting up the characters and the situation. While the pace occasionally lags, the events are realistic (in terms of a 1970s mercenary operation) and there are occasionally interesting quotes like the one serving as this review's title. Christopher Walken's character is fleshed out and given depth which makes his actions in the climax the logical payoff to his development in the movie. The real problem with this film is the big action finale. It simply isn't exciting enough and is far too brief. There are one or two nice flourishes, but the bottomline is that you expect more payoff with all that build-up. Dogs of War is still a good film but it may leave you a bit unsatisfied. Try the aforementioned 'The Wild Geese' as well as 'Men of War' (1994) if you want more exciting mercenary action.