Movie Reaction: Dog

Formula: Turner & Hootch / Stop-Loss

 

I’m not what you would call “pro-military”. I understand there’s a purpose for it. I’m glad there are other people who are soldiers so I don’t have to be. I stop well short of attributing nobility to it though. At the end of the day, it’s a job they took for some reason*. Over the years, the stance people have on military officers has gotten divisive. Some see them as the noblest of heroes. Others look at them as toxic pawns who like to shoot people. It’s gotten very tricky to bridge that gap in entertainment. It turns out, using a dog is a pretty brilliant way to do it.

 

*To be clear, I feel this about all jobs. You either do it because it’s the best choice available to you or you want to do it. I ultimately respect the person, not the job title.

 

For Channing Tatum’s debut feature film as a director (co-director technically), he has decided to talk about the struggle to reintegrate into society while still suffering from the traumas of war. He just does it with a dog. Dog is about Briggs, a former army ranger who was discharged on disability. He convinces a superior officer to re-enlist him on the condition that Briggs transports his dead friend’s service dog to his funeral 1500 miles away. The dog is a trained attack dog with a kill count, and it is a terror to deal with after leaving a warzone. The story itself is pretty silly. Technically, all the stuff you are imagining is in there. The dog keeps getting Briggs in trouble. They have several misadventures on the road trip and get into zany situations. I literally cannot describe the plot in a way that doesn’t sound like it’s a generic “action star does family movie” (see: The Pacifier, The Game Plan, My Spy, etc.). And it is a crowd-pleasing kind of movie, just not in the way you’d expect.

 

It really is a movie about coming back from the traumas of war. But, by making it a dog, audiences are way quicker to forgive. Just imagine if this was a movie about a soldier with PTSD coming back home. He explodes on people for no reason and gets violent with little provocation. He’s even a little racist. Most of the time in the movie would be spent convincing the audience that he can be redeemed. Even if you understand him, it’s hard to paint that character as a sweet guy deep down. It’s a lot easier to forgive that character if it’s a dog then hope the audience can extrapolate that it’s the same for human soldiers.

 

Thankfully, the movie also doesn’t take itself too seriously. Every intense situation is diffused pretty gently. It’s not out to make anyone the villain. It’s clear that Tatum has respect for the military. His character is desperate to enlist again so he has a feeling of purpose again. The reason he’s having trouble re-enlisting is because superior officers are concerned for his well-being. It’s revealed that they plan to put the dog down after the funeral, not because they are callous but because they are concerned that the damage done is too great. Dog does a terrific job of staying on message and not leaning too far in one direction or the other. I’m very impressed with Channing Tatum’s collaborations with screenwriter and co-director Reid Carolin, who also wrote the Magic Mike movies. They continue to find ways to explore masculinity that are thoughtful and avoid clichés. I’m thoroughly surprised that I came out of Dog so favorable about it. I really thought it was some dumb road trip buddy comedy with a dog. And I guess it is that, but in a good way.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend