Alpha Dog (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Matthew Barry, Emile Hirsch, Fernando Vargas (II), Vincent KartheiserDirector: Nick Cassavetes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release: May 1st 2007
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DVD Review
With harrowing intensity, Alpha Dog dramatizes one of the most tragically notorious murders in recent history. Ripped from the headlines, writer-director Nick Cassavetes' flawed but riveting crime drama (a polar opposite to his previous film, the romantic hit The Notebook) is based on the real-life case of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer in California's San Gabriel Valley who, in 2000, became one of the youngest men to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Names and details have been changed, but the criminal circumstances remain the same: With family links to organized crime, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is on the warpath against Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a sleazebag addict who owes him money. Fate intervenes when Johnny and his stoner pals including Frankie (Justin Timberlake) encounter Jake's 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) and hold him as collateral until Jake pays his debts. What begins as a casual, seemingly harmless situation escalates into a crisis of capital crime, as Alpha Dog employs split-screen, docudrama, and mock-documentary interviews to chronicle a tragic tailspin of reckless events and lawless behavior.
Cassavetes himself became part of the real-life drama when prosecutors (hoping to locate then-fugitive Jesse James Hollywood, who was captured in 2005) gave him legally controversial access to their case files. Alpha Dog clearly benefits from this inside information, and while the film's grueling depiction of underage squalor (including rampant drug and alcohol abuse) is inevitably off-putting and at least partially exploitative, there's no denying that Cassavetes has worked wonders with a well-chosen ensemble cast including Timberlake, who contrasts his music-industry stardom with a convincing performance as a likable, not-too-bright party animal who quickly gets in over his head. The film is ultimately compromised by Cassavetes' ambitious attempt to cover too much dramatic territory, but like his father John before him, he demonstrates a remarkable skill with actors (including Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, and Harry Dean Stanton in supporting roles), and Alpha Dog is full of powerful, dangerous moments that aren't easily forgotten. --Jeff Shannon
User Reviews
A classy classic - Rating: 5/5
A true classic in every sense of the Tarrantino word. I could watch this movie a dozen time and see something new every time. Great plot, action, suspense, has it all. I rate this movie up there with Casablanca and Pulp Fiction as one of the great classics.
Modern day cautionary tale - Rating: 5/5
"Alpha Dog" is about a bunch of Southern California low level drug dealers thugs who want to be big time gangsters like they see on MTV. The big trouble begins when Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster) can not pay his debt, so dim wit drug lord Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) decide to kidnap Mazurshy's little brother Zack (Anton Yelchin). At first everything is cool because Zack is left Frankie (Justin Timberlake), a guy who just wants to party and has little interest in the violent part of life; indeed Frankie offers Zack his freedom several times, but Zack loves the sudden attention and decides to hang out. After awhile Johnny figures out just how much trouble he really is in and decides on a extreme course of action that no one is truly prepared for.
I think this is a movie that all wanna-be-ganstas' should see. All of these kids have probably seen Al Pacino's "Scarface" and loved it and are now emulating it, but did not figure out the moral of that story. They all are in love with the glamour of money, drugs and sex, and do not realize just how destructive it all is until they are in so deep they can't get out. The parents presented in the film are of little help, as they are just as shallow as the kids are (as embodied by Bruce Willis and Harry Dean Stanton); they are just a little more smart about it. I like this movie because it is in no way ambiguous; this lifestyle will kill you.
The acting is universally great. The stand out performance is Timberlake. While I do not care for his music (I didn't say it is bad music, I just do not prefer it) he is the heart and soul of this movie. Emile Hirsch's Johnny is not evil, though far from good. He is greedy and thinks he's bad, that is until he runs afoul of true psycho Neo-Nazi Mazursky. It is this relationship that plummets everyone into the hell the end up in. Anton Yelchin is great as Zack, the more or less innocent that is totally charmed by the life and is blind to it's dangers until it's too late. Sharon Stone is also good as the worried succor mom, as is Bruce Willis and Harry Dean Stanton (where's he been, I missed him!) as scum bag father and grandfather drug dealers who try to help but are ultimately too late.
A great movie, one I think many teenagers should see. Yes there is a lot of extreme sex and drug use in the film, but it serves the greater purpose of warning kids away from the destructive life. This is based on a true story, so that makes it more tragic. I liked it and highly recommend it.
Alpha Dog Soup - Rating: 4/5
The trouble is that Emile Hirsch isn't up to being the "alpha dog" he's supposed to be playing, he's an interesting actor but he's no heavy, not even close, and his silly sideburns make him seem like he's playing in a comedy. It's like asking Jason Schwartzman to play the Al Pacino part, Jason's great and all, but he doesn't have the range, and neither does Emile Hirsch at this point.
Justin is perfectly fine as Frankie but his performance is sort of like what Dr Johnson said about women preachers. Like a dog walking on its hind legs, it is not done well, but you are surprised to see it done at all, so you give Justin more points than he deserves. Actually he went through the whole movie with the gravitas of Russ Tamblyn in WEST SIDE STORY, and he resembles Tamblyn down to the natural grace and the shifting, loping walk. A few bars of "Gee Officer Krupke" would not have been out of line for Justin as "Frankle," Johnny Truelove's right hand man.
What other reviewers have said here is all too true, the film is often very well done, but after BULLY, why make what is essentially the same film all over again? And why put Lukas Haas and Shawn Hatosy in the same parts they've been playing for the past 15 years? Cassavetes could have constructed their entire performances out of previous footage of the two actors, the way that sometimes now you see a new TV commercial featuring Fred Astaire running a Dust Devil across a messy living room.
Great Movie - Rating: 5/5
Alpha Dog is a really great movie. Emile Hirsch did a great job as always and for you Justin Timberlake fans, this was a really good performance by him. JT is the man in this, and the nice guy. I would recommend this to anyone that likes a good kidnapping movie, but be forwarnd, if you get sad or cry real easily then you probably shouldn't get this because something huge happens and its not very funny.
Shallow and multi-layered - Rating: 4/5
Alpha Dog is a great B movie. The actors are meant to speak in real time scenes with realistic everyday dialog, meaning it should come off as a false reality TV show like The Office, where "realistic" acting is done well. Instead, we get movie acting, which makes much of the dialog seem forced. Still, the movie is enjoyable for its gratuitous violence, swearing, and drug use. The beginning of the movie is a typical over the top gangster vs gangster scenario, with the middle of the film played as a no holds barred teen party movie. For a while, the seriousness of the story is cast aside as the comedy, action and excess becomes enjoyable on a base level. Rather than be preachy, the movie is left to be enjoyed as a movie, until the film shifts into a serious, sombering "based on a true story" morality tale that might be found in the "free rental" section of Blockbuster. While characters are based on real people, as characters they are left to thrive in their movie reflection of life, but as reflections of people they gain an extra layer of sympathy and identification. Alpha Dog actually changes from "mindless crime drama" to "mindless party movie" to "serious based on true events tale," which would seem like a bad choice, but it prevents the entire movie from being dragged down. From the first half of the movie, learning or self growth seems unlikely. Morality and realistic consequences are nowhere to be seen in the beginning, yet the beginning movie cliches become transcended by the characters, so that a false gangster scene becomes obviously false as the movie progresses, making reality more noticeable and tragic. The use of flashback, counted days, and numbered witnesses creates an ominous caution that is not over the top, but drags the viewer in and out of the fantasy movie world. In the end, the actors aren't real people, and the poor special effects drive home the point that this is just a movie meant to look like reality, but this creates a more startling movie as we imagine the true reality behind it. Alpha Dog is paradoxically mindless and shallow without insulting the viewers intelligence.
