Movie Review: Dog

While the film Dog could be mistaken as another examination of the ravages of war, it proves itself to be a far more rewarding experience thanks in large part to an earnest performance from Channing Tatum, as well as one from his canine costar. 

Essentially a “buddy” picture that follows two former Army Rangers – Briggs (Tatum) and Lulu (a Belgian Malinois dog) – as they make their way down the Pacific Coast to attend their fellow soldier’s funeral. As is the custom in this type of film, the pair initially drive each completely crazy and Briggs’s suspect motives for taking on the assignment make the two soldiers seem less than friends and more like adversaries until they each lower their emotional barriers and try to actually connect in a meaningful way with one another. 

Although the film begins as a sort of mismatched pairing comical turn with Lulu not listening to Briggs or Briggs growing increasingly frustrated by her disobedience, it quickly develops into a tale of two soldiers helping each recover from the ravages of war and finding a sort of peace with each other. After Briggs and Lulu visit Tamara (Jane Adams) and her husband (Ethan Suplee) they are connected on a deeper level than before and their reliance on one another grows more acute. Before long, it is obvious that both are helping the other overcome the traumas of their individual pasts by making amends with those still with them. 

Channing Tatum in “Dog.” © 2021 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Inc.

Making his directorial debut alongside Channing Tatum is Reid Carolin – who penned the scripts for previous Tatum-starring films Magic Mike (2012) and Magic Mike XXL (2015). (The two also share an executive producer credit on the precursor to Dog, the 2017 documentary War Dog: A Soldier’s Best Friend.) The pair do a remarkable job of keeping the narrative moving at a brisk and somewhat relentless pace. The script, written by Carolin and Brett Rodriguez, does not feature any of the requisite downtime that usually accompanies a film of this sort wherein the audience is asked to contemplate the situation along with the characters; nor does it rely on any of the heavy-handedness that one might expect from such melodramatic fare. 

In addition to his co-directing credit, Tatum also manages to hold his own opposite the scene-stealing Lulu. There is an obvious connection between the two characters that, despite being different species, manages to resonate as an honest bond between individuals. Throughout their travels, the pair are accompanied by a score by Thomas Newman that augments the stunning vistas and assorted scenery captured by the cinematography of Newton Thomas Sigel. 

To its credit, Dog, refrains from delivering an overly melodramatic treatise on the horrors of war and instead focuses on the relationship between the film’s human and canine main characters as they inevitably find peace and comfort in one another’s company.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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