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39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When the parents are away..., April 3, 2007
The movie is based on the true story of the kidnapping of Zack Mazursky (Yelchin) by "drug dealer" Johnny Truelove(Hirsch) and his "posse". The basics is that they kidnap the 15 year-old kid so that his older brother pays up the 1200 dollars he owes Truelove. But the whole plan goes awry and Zack ends up being killed.
In itself the movie isn't that original. It's themes we've already seen a million times : the disenchanted, bored youth who play drug dealers in California. But what makes this different is that it's a true story, and that fact alone turns the movie into a dark, almost horror, story that ends up haunting you and staying with you long after the end credits. This actually ends up saving the movie from itself, not turning it into another one of those horrible laugh-out-loud movies like "Havoc". What helps is also the opening credits, where when you reach the end you end up asking yourself "how did they get from there to here?"
The acting is average. It's not bad but there aren't that many great performances. The breakout star in all of this would probably have to be Justin Timberlake who shows he can act and gives an emotional level to the story, without which the movie would be doomed. I think most of it has to do with the script though, because you seriously have to wonder if they actually talked like that. Sharon Stone is also fairly decent as Zack's mother, that is until the end. Another honorable mention would have to be Ben Foster who just chews up the script.
But as Bruce Willis' character so insightfully points out, this movie is really about parenting...bad parenting at that. It's another movie that shows what happens when the parents don't give a damn and let their kids run all over the place and do whatever they want. But throughout the movie I also really wanted to slap the kids for taking stupidity to a whole new level, which is frightening considering it's based on a true story.
The only other negative point about the movie is that it runs about 15 minutes too long, with Sharon Stone's last scene that fails to inspire compassion and sadness at the whole situation and ends up being just ridiculous.
On the whole it's a decent movie worth seeing once and that won't leave you indifferent.
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44 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
THE MORE LIGHTHEADED IT LOOKS, THE SCARIER, March 7, 2007
Johnny Truelove (Hirsch) is pushing weed to local teenagers and everything seems to be fine in his quiet life till his authority is questioned by a fascist jew(!) Mazursky (Foster) who furthermore is not giving Johnny back $1200 he borrowed. Truelove and his friends then kidnap Mazursky's 15-year-old brother Zack (Yelchin) and hold him as a hostage. Zack is OK with being a hostage - parties, booze, weed and girls are definately better than sitting home with wonk parents. Everybody's having a great time, kids fool around and it seems like we observe ordinary teenagers' life, only sometimes captions appear at the sides of the screen calling every new character number next witness. And it makes you feel uneasy. We know the film is based on true events, hence we know something bad will happen, but till the very end I personally refused to believe it actually will.
Alpha Dog is a movie about a crime which was commited not by some malicious intent, but rather by an absolute bluntness and with a total recklessness of the characters involved. These 20-year-olds behave like small kids - having commited something bad they are afraid of upcoming punishment and descend deeper into crime. They don't believe themselves they're capable to do something terrible and they can't stop when it's not yet too late. They are just a bunch of silly kids hence the outcome is utterly disturbing although we saw it coming.
Alpha Dog is a remarkable film, but to tell the truth - it's overshadowed by such works as The Chumscrubber or Bully. Nick Cassavetes did a great job, but still Larry Clark's movies, for instance, have a greater impact on you. Alpha Dog's impact is based more on the fact that all the ivents shown here really happened some time ago. And I'm sure they still take place in different corners of our world. So it's another flick for you if you want to know what modern youth is. It won't leave you indifferent for sure.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Say Goodbye to Hollywood., April 27, 2008
I stumbled across Alpha Dog the other night on cable and found myself wrapped up in the true life teen gangster story along the lines of Larry Clark's Bully, although lighter and funnier. Dog is filled with young acting talent reminiscent of The Outsiders - The Complete Novel (Two-Disc Special Edition) combined with strong seasoned performances by Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Dog, directed by Nick Cassavetes ( The Notebook (New Line Platinum Series)), who also played bad guy Packard Walsh in the so bad it's good 80's movie The Wraith. Amazon already does an informative write up, which talks about Cassavetes own run in with the law for his contact with the real life character behind Johnny Truelove, still on the F.B.I's ten most wanted list at the time of the film. I found that interesting. Although I disagree with their interpretation of Foster's character Jake, which I'll address.
The story, based on actual events, follows a group of suburban kids who watch music videos, act tough, drink 40's, smoke cheeba, disrespect people, and talk shiite. The leader of this crew is Johnny Truelove played by Emile Hirsch, who seems to get better with every role, and gives his best performance a year later in Into the Wild. Johnny is a smooth manipulator but gets most of his respect from his family ties, also surrounding himself with idiots doesn't hurt.
In this movie of solid performances it is Ben Foster's Jake Mazursky that steals the spotlight, as he did in similar fashion from Russel Crowe and Christian Bale in the western 3:10 to Yuma (Widescreen Edition) with his portrayal of Charlie Prince. Amazon describes Foster's character Jake as a scum bag drug addict. I disagree. There is no doubt he has a drug problem, and problems in general, but in a time when most just talk trash, Jake actually follows through. In some aspects I saw him as a stand up guy, or would be without drugs, and has a fearlessness that other men can respect, under different circumstances he could have been a leader. Ben Foster does a great job showing rage in this part with words or without. Justin Timberlake also gives a good performance as the mostly obnoxious, with hints of charisma, Frankie Ballenbacher.
The basic plot is Jake owes Johnny Truelove money. Johnny tries to disrespect Jake like he does with his other friends, but Jake isn't his other friends, and it continues to escalate from there. The crew decide to teach Jake a lesson and kidnap his younger brother, whom Jake is close with. This sets a chain of events sometimes fun and entertaining but ultimately tragic.
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