Released: August 2017
Director: Jesse V. Johnson
Run Time: 94 Minutes
Not Rated
Genre: Action/Thriller
Cast:
Scott Adkins: Martin Tillman
Marko Zaror: Rastignac
Juju Chan: Isabelle
Cung Le: Boon
Vladimir Kulich: Steiner
Keith David: Valentine
Charles Fathy: Amarillo
Matthew Marsden: Harrison
The first time I saw Scott Adkins in action was 2006’s Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing. He played a violent and angry Russian named Yuri Boyka. That is a role that has really helped launch his career as an actor. His physicality is extraordinarily impressive. Not only would he return to play Boyka in 2 more sequels, he would also team up with and periodically take on Jean-Claude Van Damme in several movies, including Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. If there is a British answer to Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins would be it. The man brings a level of intensity that I haven’t seen since Van Damme first showed up. While Mr. Adkins has taken on bit parts in some major movies including Expendables 2 and Doctor Strange, his particular specialty is in the low-budge and independent film scene. He’s become one of the biggest action stars in that particular arena. His recent film, Boyka: Undisputed, was released on Blu-Ray/DVD a couple of weeks ago and it was a fantastic film, but he also had another film released this year: Savage Dog.
Savage Dog is set in 1959 Indochina where a group of criminals have taken control of a local village. They run illegal fights for money and to fund their operation. Martin Tillman, a former member of Ireland’s IRA movement and deserter is in prison, but is allowed to take part in the fights. He’s visited regularly by a local girl, Isabelle who has fallen for Tillman. After being freed, he goes to a local bar that’s run by a man named Valentine. After confronting Rostignac, one of the criminals, the bar and its patrons are brutally attacked, leaving Tillman and Isabelle for dead. The revenge thriller is not a new genre for film. It’s been around for quite a while. I’ve seen my fair share and they all seem to follow similar patterns. Savage Dog is no different. The story isn’t terrible by any stretch, but it does fall back on some pretty tired clichés. It also doesn’t help that the film is narrated by a character that ends up dying half-way through the movie….and continues to be narrated by said character. Your guess is as good as mine.
While the story is predictable at times, what isn’t predictable is the level of violence in the film. Holy shit does this thing get bloody. The moment when Tillman picks up a machete, things get dicey(see what I did there?). Heads are lopped off, people are dismembered and heads explode. There was more than one occasion when I was like, “JEEZ!” It also helps that most of the blood effects and gore are done practically. That is always a welcome thing in a movie like this. Far too often in big-budget movies film-makers rely on CGI blood. It’s painfully obvious and it doesn’t really do anything for me. The action in Savage Dog is visceral and hard-hitting. With this being a Scott Adkins film, you would expect some pretty good martial arts action, and the film does not disappoint. You don’t see him or Marko Zaror doing any of their trademark acrobatics, but these guys are clearly skilled and do a phenomenal job. This is the first time since Undisputed III that Adkins and Zaror have gone up against each other, and it’s just as awesome. We also have Cung Le take on Scott, which is a pretty decent fight, but the way the fight ends may be controversial to some people. I didn’t care for the way the fight ended, personally. Overall, the fight choreography was really good. No wire work or CGI was used to enhance the fights. It was grounded in a gritty type of reality, that you usually don’t see in a lot of movies these days. Unfortunately, the action gets let down a bit by an excessive use of slow motion. I don’t mind slow motion being used, but it just felt like it was padding out the run time. Had they kept the slow motion to a relative minimum, the pacing would have flowed much better.
While I don’t necessarily think that Scott Adkins will win any awards for acting, there is no doubt that he has some serious screen presence. When he’s allowed to go crazy, he goes all in. When I said that the guy can be intense, I wasn’t kidding. He really brings it here and it’s actually one of his best performances. His Irish accent isn’t that bad either. But you won’t notice it too much, since he doesn’t have a lot of lines. Marko Zaror has continued to impress me, not just as a martial artist, but also as an actor. He’s really good at playing bad guys. The guy that plays the Nazi, Steiner, Vladimir Kulich is very restrained in his role. I really like it when villains are not played for laughs or go completely over-the-top, unless they are written that way, like The Joker. Juju Chan plays Tillman’s love interest, Isabelle, and she’s surprisingly effective and gorgeous. Keith David plays Valentine, the owner of the bar. What can I say about Keith David, he’s a phenomenal actor.
Overall, I have to say that Savage Dog is fairly impressive as an action movie, a lot more than I was anticipating, actually. There’s a surprisingly decent, if predictable story, with solid acting involved and some pretty visceral action. Unfortunately, the film is let down by a number of glaring issues. One, the narration is completely unnecessary and it doesn’t really add anything to the movie. It’s more irritating than anything else. The excessive use of slow motion has a negative impact on the film’s pacing and some characters aren’t given enough screen time or enough material to work with. Ultimately, I would still recommend it if you are a huge fan of Scott Adkins, like I am. It’s at least worth a rental. Savage Dog is currently available only digitally on Amazon Video and iTunes.
My Final Recommendation: Pissing off a character played by Scott Adkins is generally not a good idea. 7/10