If The Red Spectacles was a David Lynch film meets a George Orwell flick, then Stray Dog: Kerberos Panzer Cop is a Terrance Malick meets Beat Takeshi film.
While this might sound like some kind of glowing praise for both films, I have to say that the description and cover art for both films are terribly misleading. The "sci-fi" tag is more of a fleeting descriptor than anything, as there is little to no science fiction elements involved, save for the over-arching theme involving the Kerberos squad, whom only have the briefest of appearances at the very beginning of the film.
Someone compared this to Takeshi's Sonatine, and I think that's a very fair comparison. Only, it's far less somber, a lot more goofy in parts, and -- perhaps, to an extent -- less thoughtful.
Ultimately, the first half is like a road trip, and majority of the second half is a slice of life vacation film. There are some great shots, and excellent use of guerrilla filmmaking as much of the scenarios throughout the film are the complete opposite of the claustrophobic and highly contained surrealist set pieces used in The Red Spectacles.
Here, we get lots of wide open shots of the city, and fantastic, bustling moments throughout dense urban environments.
In many ways, Stray Dog is more of a film about a dedicated segment in the portrait of a life, rather than anything grand.
And again, this may sound really existential and artfully encompassing, but the problem is that despite this having a much shorter runtime than The Red Spectacles, it feels so much longer, mostly because at least The Red Spectacles attempts to keep moving, even while the main character keeps getting waylaid. His setbacks and frustrations are just part of his motivation to reach some kind of resolution.
Here, once the road trip aspects of the film conclude the film completely meanders, and not just meanders, but it becomes quite pointless. We have five minute segments of the characters just eating -- nothing significant really happens during this time. And there are a ton of aimless scenes that -- had they been cut -- would not have changed the overall plot of the film at all.
This is one of the biggest problems with the film. It meanders way too much. However, if you like Terrance Malick films for that exact reason, then I can easily see you taking a liking to this film.
The only reason I gave this a 5 out of 10, however, is because the ending sequence is absolutely awesome. It's one of the best filmed action scenes put to celluloid. I just wish we had a proper movie themed around that concept but in the way that Oshii envisioned it here in Stray Dog.
Yes, we get more of the action-oriented elements in Jin-Roh and the South Korean remake; and yes, Jin-Roh definitely captures more of the horror-elements that were briefly on display during Stray Dog's big third-act finale, but even Jin-Roh found itself being more akin to Ghost in the Shell with its existential framing rather than really indulging in the horror concepts that this property constantly puts forward through its imagery and themes.
It's a real shame, because even the masters of horror couldn't seem to really dig into the trenches of this franchise and bring out the scary prospect of an authoritarian, nearly indestructible police force used to suppress and squash. We only always get hints and glimpses of the dystopian horror that the Kerberos represent, but never the full-on thing. It's always undermined in some way.
In this case, we have a movie that spends its entire time setting up a plot point to coincide with its prequel-sequel (The Red Spectacles), while the rest of the film lingers along aimlessly for the most part. Very little dialogue is present, and what dialogue is present is mostly either difficult to parse for context unless you've already seen The Red Spectacles, or it leaves a bit confused about the character motivations until the next act.
That's probably the biggest difference between Oshii's films and Malick and Takeshi's films; the latter two at least know how to maintain consistency and interest, even while Malick is the master of meandering. Though his films can be boring, at least there is conviction in the performances he captures, and a sense of seriousness in how he approaches the subject matter.
Takeshi is one of my favorites because even in the somber and slow moments, his films are still highly thought provoking, well acted, and expertly paced. He manages to capture stillness without making it boring, and that's a real feat of an excellent auteur; something Oshii aimed for but didn't quite hit with The Red Spectacles nor Kerberos.
Unless you're just absolutely fascinated with the expanded lore of the Kerberos saga, the only two films really worth watching are the original Jin-Roh from 1999 and the live-action South Korean remake. I think Jin-Roh will stick with you more because it's a lot more brutal and unwavering, but the South Korean remake has its own stylistic charms.
As for Kerberos? I really wish it was a more focused film, and that the tone and depiction of the "Stray Dog" at the end was made more apparent and focused throughout the rest of the film. Some day hopefully there is a proper political-thriller framed within the lens of a horror film based on the Jin-Roh concept, because I still think it could work really well that way. But until then, we'll still have these films that give us some hope for a more expanded cinematic universe based on the property.
