Savage Dog

The setting was interesting, in this country at this moment of History. We don't see that very often. But the movie lacks beautiful scenery. Everythng is filmed so close.

As usual for Adkins movies : gunfights are boring, martial arts scenes are good (but not as good as in the Undisputed series).

The finale drags on too long.

The pitch could have been interesting but the movie gets lost.

Very basic storyline, effects low budget. HOWEVER there are some good fight scenes (as you could expect with Scott Adkins)

I reckon if Scott Adkins was around in the 80s he'd be a very big star. As it is, he even struggles having a fan base in his "home" in the UK. But that doesn't stop him having decent success in quite a few movies in recent years. Also while I'm not sure if he's big in Japan (tonight), I do know he's big in Germany.

But even over here this particular movie will have some issues. Or rather limited success to be more specific. While the movie does try to give the whole thing a slightly different taste with its story it doesn't work that well overall. Also the action scenes are not the best he's done, stunt wise that is. If you're a fan of his work, this may be worth a look, but everyone else should probably spend their time otherwise

I went into this as a random pick and mix film, they tend to be horrors.....this wasn't.

Savage Dog is an old school action flick starring Scott Adkins and the excellent veteran of the industry Keith David.

It tells the story of a disgraced former boxer in 1959 who finds himself at the mercy of a local baron who wants him to fight for money. It's full of your usual mindless action tropes and though the action certainly looks good it doesn't make it any different than 10k comparable titles.

The narration/performance by David is solid as usual, as for Adkins I don't see the appeal. The man is dull and lifeless much like Van Damme and Lungren were when they first started out in the industry.

Every square inch of this film has been done before and better. I may not be the demographic, I may generally not like action films and therefore am hard to please but this is so generic it hurts.

The Good:

Action looks great

Keith David

The Bad:

As shallow and mindless as they come

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Action movie actors start terrible and get marginally better over the years

I had expected another standard martial arts flick but was pleasantly surprised to see that the director has put in some effort at character establishment , having some sort of story ...some effort at acting etc , and making the most of whatever little budget he had .... Make no mistake its still a low budget B level movie created mainly for martial arts fans ....but it was a refreshing take to see some effort being made to create a movie what we can call a decent one time watch...

Hope to see more from the Director ....