Hellhound

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.

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.

At first the movie has a great atmosphere, the soundtrack works and the opening scene truly set the tone for what to expect in this movie. However the lead actor could have been better cast instead of this Bruce Willis meets Daniel Craig like guy. At times his accent can be incoherent The second the movie goes down hill is when the fight with the big tall guy after he brings the pretty woman home.

The fights were well choreographed but the issue unless I missed quite a lot not having subtitles for the other language was what made this get boring. It's an action movie so it's not like I'm going to miss much.

Without ruining anything I didn't like the ending either. I watched this 2 days ago and already forget most of the movie.

It's not a terrible B-movie for sure, but it is definitely one, because of the presence of these many B-movie actors, that just dont cut it.

But the biggest problem with this movie is the fact that despite their lack of charisma and talent these B-movie actors still do try to act seriously in a dramatic way, which totally fails!

Not terrible for sure, because they honestly tried to make a serious crime drama, but there simply is nothing much worse than trying to aim for the highest when one has zero talents for achieving that goal.

This movie could have been okay (ish) as a B-movie, if it had only been a straight forward shootout gangster movie with lots of fights, but that's the mistake they made, they wanted it be a serious crime drama, with LOTS of seriouis dialogue, which ended up being a big failure.