Black Dog

This, although not entirely intended to be that funny, is one of the most humorous films I've ever seen. Wes's constant pleading to visit the jon, Red's quoting of Bible verses, and Earl's horrible singing all intertwine into a story originally intended to be very serious. However, the great acting of Randy Travis and Meat Loaf give the viewer a pleasant and hilarious surprise. The car chase scene is wonderfully made as is a crafty semi truck rampage up a steep hill and along jagged cliffs. A unique blend of good and bad acting along with good scenes and bad scenes make Black Dog one of the best "bad" movies you'll ever see.

You get plenty bang for your buck in the on-the-road action joint "Black Dog". Ex-con Jack Crews unwillingly agrees to drive a semi-trailer loaded with illegal weapons from Georgia to New Jersey in order to save his family. While it might be a one-idea action fling, it's got enough gusto and energy making it predictably routine, but still rousing Mack truck ride packed with smashing stunt work that's nothing short than spectacular. Total destruction follows. It's dangerous and it shows (look at the chase through the hills), as the imagery is important due to its simplicity. The script is thick with drama, but this never takes away from the thrills or the build of them. Even though the ending was overly cheery for my liking. Patrick Swayze emit's a natural coolness to his laid-back ex-con character that sure knows how to handle a rig. Then chuck in the villains (hit-men, bikers and FBI) who hound Swayze, where you have the larger-than-life Meat Loaf and the usual twists and turns. Distinguishable, but competently done and very exciting as we get the screeching guitar riffs to remind us that.

"That son of a b!tch can drive"

I am no fan of the stars of this movie or a truckdriving buff or interested in country music (not that that's overly relevant.) I borrowed this tape with low expectations but was happily surprised by how entertaining it was. What has happened to Patrick Swayze? I thought he did a good job acting in both Donnie Darko and now this. THIS film is what goofy, illogical action flicks are supposed to be. This isn't simply a music video stretched out to an hour-and-a-half. This director actually knows how to make a movie. The plot ain't deep but there IS a plot, which is important. The ideas are dopey but the actors aren't simply laughing their way through but rather they treated this like a serious work. The actress who plays Swayze's wife has a style which usually annoys me but she, too, was ok in this thing. Even the little bits of country music didn't bother me. A stupid finale? Sure, but even that was fun. Wow.

Let's see, let's make a movie about truckers. Who can we get? How about Patrick Swayze? Yeah, that's good. Now for the villain- Meat Loaf? No, you're insane. Randy Travis as the sidekick? Wait a durned minute here! It's 'BLACK DOG'.

Poor Mr Swayze, if he drives a truck again, he'll go to jail...again! "But honey, we're losing the house!" Suddenly (deus ex machina), a deal he can't refuse comes his way, and after all, he is the best gol'darn trucker of them all.

I would have loved to be at the pitch meeting for this movie. "Well, we have $14M. Why don't we just throw it..........here!"

The funny part is, this is so good you can't stop watching it. And boy, is Swayze looking old! Watch out for the Black Dog.

I honestly wasn't expecting too much from this movie, but for what I got I was entertained and never bored. BLACK DOG is a fairly standard late-90's B-grade action movie, but its colorful characters help it to transcend the genre clichés and make it somewhat memorable. The basic plot is that Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) is in need of some extra money and agrees to take a truck-driving job transporting some goods. Little does he know that it's some illegal guns, and soon he has people on his trail as he tries to make the delivery.

I've never been too much of a Patrick Swayze fan, mostly because I don't think he can act that well. He has some charisma, for sure, but the only movie I've really enjoyed him in prior to this was ROAD HOUSE. Here, he doesn't get that kind of a role to play, but thankfully the supporting players pick up the slack and make the movie worth watching. Of those cast members, the most entertaining were Meat Loaf as a Bible-quoting madman, and Charles Dutton and Stephen Tobolowsky as a bickering FBI and ATF agent, respectively. Their short scene that opens the film is, in my opinion, the best part and sort of sets the tone for what follows, at least when they're on screen. Randy Travis also has a supporting role, but all they can do with him is make jokes and references to his real-life career as a country singer.

In general, the acting was decent for this type of movie. The action, of course, was well-done. By virtue of being produced before Hollywood became obsessed with CGI and shaky-cam, this film features real stunts, real explosions and crisp, clean action sequences done with some flair. Yes, having cars and trucks explode on impact in a collision is ridiculous, but it's also ridiculously entertaining to watch. Most importantly, the truck-driving sequences were filmed in an interesting way, and actually on the highway. Other positives I can think of are a suitably bombastic score and some gentle soundtrack cuts courtesy of Randy Travis. I don't really care for country music, but he's one person I can tolerate.

The negative aspects I can mention are all fairly standard for the genre. There's a lot of plot holes, story threads that aren't followed up on (or at least satisfactorily), and of course the premise. Part of this can be chalked up to the run time. At 89 minutes, it is a little light on story and character development, but then again it didn't exactly need to be complex. Overall, this was much more fun than I was anticipating. It's by no means a good movie, but it's pretty entertaining for what it is. When all is said and done, there's a lot worse ways to spend your time. Also, they do explain what the title means, in case you were wondering.