Hellhound

The is a "B" film with a very weak story and many weal elements, including the script and the overly complicated nature of how the story is told. The saving grace of the film is the screen presence of Lousi Mandylor. Mandylor has established himself as the most solid and consistent presence in "B" action and tough guy films. He has had some great ones, most notable the two Debt Collector films, but this one falls short of those. Regardless, he s good here. So is the action. The fights and settings are fun. I happen to watch this on the day after the big Earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand, which was by coincidence, but made it a little different to watch.

5 stars out of 10 for Hellhound is generous. It's just not very good. But good enough to watch to the end if you're in the mood for an action movie and don't have high expectations. Louis Mandylor stands out compared to all the other actors as he clearly has more experience carrying a movie. The dialogues are clearly written by someone that did not have the imagination and sense of realism to create something that makes the viewer believe it's real. It would have probably worked better if the actors had not been given a word by word script. The action scenes in the movie are also a 5 out of 10. There are some good bits but as many bad ones. The story isn't half bad but there is nothing new here. But after seeing one great movie after another it is sometimes just fun to watch something like this. That's where it serves it's purpose.

Good points - Great location scouting, good establishing shots, all round DoP work is very proficient if unimaginative, great lighting and sound. Wardrobe and make up v good. V good direction of action scenes, the last fight in the red corridor was super and very atmospheric, tons of locations used very well Bad points - V poor script and story with terrible dialogue - cringeworthy at times made worse by some weak delivery. Very difficult to feel any empathy for the protagonist (the actor clearly took the money and ran) - totally confused in the final scenes with 2-3 new? Characters - no idea what was going on. Some of the acting was dreadful eg the priest and the very experienced Thai actors. There was no real character depth or arcs, 2D comic strip stuff.

The direction seemed non-existent in terms of creativity. It looked like a series of half-baked TV commercials stitched together rather than a plausible feature film.

Would you ask a writer to be a DoP? No, obviously not , so why ask a DoP to be a writer? Is it arrogance or lack of humility? I guess this was an expensive vanity project - The cool locations and lead actor could have been used to create an edgy crime drama if the producer or director paid an experienced script writer and acting coach 5-10k . Hope to see similar locations and crew create a much better 2nd feature.

I was lucky enough to attend the premiere of this new film in Bangkok on the big screen.

I loved the look and feel of Hellhound.

We get to see a lot of Bangkok and there were some really fantastic shots - especially the rooftop fight scene.

Lead actor was great and overall the acting quality was pretty good for this level of movie in terms of budget.

I did feel that the narrative could have been a bit clearer, and perhaps the lead character could have been fleshed out a bit more. At times it seemed he disappeared from the narrative and his sidekick had more on screen time than him.

The photography was excellent and the action scenes were very well shot - some great camera tricks in some moments. We could have had more action scenes - this would be my main takeaway - I almost wanted it to have been more of a smash em up movie - and go all in with it! However - it was a good effort from all involved.

I'm not sure why it was called HellHound - perhaps that aspect could havebeen explored a bit more - I did get the connection to it through some of the dialogue, but I dont think it was explored enough.

There was humour but perhaps not enough.... Well done all involved.

An interesting take on the issue of kidnappings and killings in the Southeast Asian region, this action thriller failed to attract audiences around the world. For me it was not only slow-paced but anticlimactic. The performances, not only by the supporting characters but by the protagonist as well, were bland and so stereotypical of action movies wherein the dramatic performances were slowly diminishing in quality and depth. The storyline, however, was solid and interesting. The amount of violence and gory scenes were just sufficient for me. It would have been a more thrilling ride if it was longer.