Caffeinated Clint
It mightn’t have as much Bark as it probably should’ve, but Nick Cassaevttes’ cautionary tale “Alpha Dog” still embodies quite a bit of bite.
Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Christopher Marquette, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, Anton Yelchin, Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone
It mightn’t have as much Bark as it probably should’ve, but Nick Cassaevttes’ cautionary tale “Alpha Dog” still embodies quite a bit of bite.
Featuring stand-out performances by a young ensemble including Justin Timberlake (yep, that Justin Timberlake!), Emile Hirsch and Anton Yelchin, the nail-biting drama fixes on a piece of recent American history: A time when a gang of hoodlums, owed money by another, kidnap the brother of the latter as ransom. Despite getting along well with their hostage, they ultimately decide to end his life – in what they believe, is their only chance of getting out of jail. Fools.
The first three-quarters of Cassevettes’ film is very solid. All of the characters are fleshy and interesting, the storyline is captivating and the message rings loud and clear – don’t play with fire if you don’t wanna get burned. Then, in the film’s last twenty-minutes (the important part of the movie in many ways), Cassevettes’ lets the ball drop: his effects shots look terribly cheap; the choice is made to ‘fatten’ Sharon Stone’s mother character (she plays the mother of the kidnapped kid) to the size of Norbit (to much amusement), and most notably, the punch that the film should entail never really comes.
Still, “Alpha Dog” isn’t half as bad as many critics have made it out to be it’s actually quite a well-done piece. Also a great show reel for the abovementioned Timberlake.
DVD extras include an entertaining but too-short making-of and a witness timeline (text) of the events.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Clint Morris
