Customer Reviews

Black Dog (Spanish Subtitled) [VHS]

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

From the opening scene, it becomes clear that director Kevin Hooks is going to serve up a John Woo style action flick as the backdrop for promoting his views on existentialist thought. Patrick Swayze, a God-fearing truck driver, serves as a modern day Soren Kierkegaard while the rougher Randy Travis counters as an atheistic Jean-Paul Sartre figure. Together, the two must deliver one last shipment to prevent harm to Swayze's wife (a Simone de Beauvoir lookalike) and daughter, all the while battling an angry Meatloaf, the rig-driving equivalent of Edmund Husserl. While trucking cross-country, Swayze continually posits that religious faith is central to an authentic existence through the guise of insisting on delivering the goods "according to plan". Travis (who, incidentally, provides some lovely songs on the score with his `Juan and Diego Band') believes that by accommodating the terrorists' plan, they are checking their own individualism. In other words, they are "condemning themselves to be free" by forcing themselves to make future directed choices. At a critical point, Travis says, "Let's do it, Black Dog," revealing the existentialist common ground that an individual's subjective experience is the focus of what it is to exist as a human being.

Interestingly, the daughter-mother hostage scenes reveal a Nietzche-Hume debate on the habit of causality, but I won't reveal all the best bites. Look for writers Mickelberry and Vining's subtle nod to the unfortunate young death of Albert Camus during the truck-over-the-cliff scene!

This is a good action movie. If you have never driven a truck, then some of the details of the film probably will be lost on you. However, anyone who likes action and the trucking lifestyle should enjoy this movie. I give it "two thumbs up."

When i watched Black Dog for the first time i thought is was one of the best movies i had ever seen. Now that i have seen it i watch it over and over again. What makes the movie so great is that it has awsome soundtrack to go along with it. From Randy Travis singing "My Worst Fear" and Rhett Akins singing Eddie Rabbits "Driving My Life Away". I would recomend that everyone watch this movie at least once in your life. I would expecially recomend it if you are a truck driver your-self. It is so easy to comprehend with what they go through. Even if you arnt a truck driver your-self it gives yo a little respect of what they have to go through(just hopefully not so much drama) with dealing being away from the ones that you love, for just doing the job that they choose to do.

Sometimes you've got take a movie for what it is and what it is meant to do. Although I notice a majority of the reviews here are positive, some people just don't get it.

This is a fun, action packed 2 hours(approx.)

The DVD widescreen transfer is awesome and the 5.1 audio will blow you away!!

The only thing I have to say negative about the movie is the ending. Kinda leaves ya goin' "Huh?, That's it? Okay.."

Check it out.

This is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I bought the movie and the soundtrack is awesome. Excellent truck driving in the movie. Very exciting, it kept me intrigued through the whole movie as to what was going to happen next.The acting is very good. Patrick Swayze is such a handsome man, he was the best part of the whole movie, but everyone did a great job.Red and his men got exactly what they deserved.If you enjoy a good action movie....then you will enjoy this one.I would rate it a 10.

The movie's plot is simplistic. Jack Crews (Swayze) and Earl (Randy Travis) must deliver a load of illegal weapons or the terrorists kill Jack's family. In addition, they must fend off Red (Meat Loaf), a fanatical, Bible verse- yelling madman, and his redneck thugs, who are attempting to steal the cargo. Anyone who enjoys explosions and big rigs will like this movie. Red's men try to hijack the guns several times, and each time their attempts fail, usually with some impressive crash. In fact, all of Red's crew are either blown up, splattered all over the pavement, or crushed within a truck cab. There are some good lines about how juice causes gas and what ATF really stands for. It's not the most intellectual movie out there, and Swayze's facial expression never does change, but with the number of explosions and huge trucks, who cares? In any event, you'll find out how deadly trucking really can be.

I must admit, I was a little skeptical about this movie, but my friend thought I would like it because I am a big Meat Loaf fan. I was very impressed with the abilities of Meat Loaf to cross into film; he is a very convinving villain; If movies have soundtrack, this film should be "Bat Out of Hell's" "Movietrack." I also thought Randy Travis was a surprisingly strong actor. It's neat to see musicians from completely different stylistic camps throw their differences aside and collaborate in such an exciting film.

My world changed when I saw this movie.

First of all, that scene where Randy Travis and Meatloaf first meet became a has become a metaphor for the relationship that I have with my daughter. Even though she is young, the understanding that we have gained about each other from watching this movie is truly fascinating.

Secondly, Patrick Swayze's character has been a motivation for me in my short story writing. In fact, since seeing the movie, I have written several characters into my stories that share various aspects of his personality, ranging the rough edges he demonstrated toward all of the women in his life to his unpredictable intellect, which ultimately saves his truck and all of mankind. (if you really think deeply enough about it)

Anyway, if you are looking for just another movie, then go rent something like "Bounce" or "She's Got Mail"; but if you're looking for groung-breaking, life-altering adventures with a mind-bending, trucker twist, then please do yourself a favor and buy this movie.

This is a great film. It is filled with exciting truck crashes, great fight sequences, and great acting performances turned in by Swayze, Randy Travis, Meat Loaf, and the rest of the cast. The guy that plays Mr. Cutler in this film plays an admiral in this years massive action epic PEARL HARBOR. This film is for anyone and everyone that enjoys action films with interesting characters and top-level storytelling. Grade: A+

Black Dog is about Patrick Swayze being an outlaw trucker. Meatloaf and Randy Travis both star in this as well.

I have a fairly high tolerance for silly movies, and I really like Patrick Swayze. So I'm willing to cut this movie a lot of slack. This review gives away a few plot points - but don't worry, none of them will be a surprise to you when you watch anyway :)

Patrick is a guy who accidentally killed someone while driving a truck. He saw the "black dog" - he in essence was driving for too long, spaced out, and ran someone over. I want to make a side comment here that I once drove off the road because I pushed myself too hard and drove while sleepy. It is SO important to take regular breaks while driving and to stop if you're tired.

So anyway, Patrick goes to jail, comes out, and now his wife is about to lose the house. He needs money and his corrupt boss offers to bail him out in return for running guns. Everybody in this movie is pretty much "all good" or "all bad" so there is little question who you cheer for.

The movie has probably every car-chase cliche in the book. Cars that crash burst into HUGE fireballs a la a nuclear explosion. Many jumps are worthy of the Dukes of Hazzard. They throw in a lot (probably too much) of arcane trucker jargon to give something cool to the film.

The plot is both predictable and exceedingly silly. I'll give an example from near the end of the film. Everything looks like it's wrapped up even though Meatloaf is still on the loose. So of course the cops tell Patrick "OK even though this huge criminal situation is wrapping up, we won't interview you or anything. Here, take this evidence-filled truck, with your wife and kid, and go drive around in it." This struck us as exceedingly silly. Oh, they give him his license back too. So there the family is driving around and sure enough, Meatloaf shows up in his own truck.

So there they are, chasing each other around a train yard. My boyfriend goes "OK so Meatloaf is going to die going head-on into a train". I'm saying "well given the nuclear level explosions of the past, he is going to die in a gigantic fireball". A few seconds later, Meatloaf goes head-on into a train and bursts into a huge fireball. It was just too funny :)

This is not nearly as engaging at Swayze's other movies. His other characters had a past and texture. Here he is very one dimensional. His relationship with his wife seems forced. The buddy situation seems forced.

I'm glad I saw this once, but unlike Swayze's other movies, this isn't one I'll be watching repeatedly.