Chien d'élite

Chuck Norris partnered up with a dog… a shaggy dog… a decorated police dog. Comedy gold! Coming late to party, as this novelty was popular in the late eighties with films like "Turner and Hooch" and "K-9". Aaron Norris would direct his brother in this asininely light-hearted (well not all the time) vehicle that would see him going after some very incompetent militant white-supremacists looking to make an explosion. And didn't Aaron Norris like his explosions with cars flying off the ground! One thing though these bad guys were hopeless. I use to think the white-supremacists in Eastwood's "Pink Cadillac" were the most inept I've watched, but there's another contender with "Top Dog". Norris' combination with the dog Reno makes for many amusingly charming situations. "You ate my chicken you mangy mutt!" But really it Norris tackling Neo Nazi white power is where the fun is at. Watch as he simply pummels these bad guys (which takes almost an hour), in something that turns out like a live action loony toons outing. However before the pummelling begins these sour face bad guys simply like to rant about white power and stand around looking mean while constantly nodding at each other. Norris is one busy copper. An arrogant, sloppy and gung-ho one too. Let's not forget a mummy's boy. His lead-up work in trying to figure out what's going on is rather hilarious, because everything feels like its made up on the spot hoping the clues would pop up than researching it. Then again if that happened we wouldn't get the heart-stopping climax of tension, laughs and someone riding a bike as fast as they can. The cast are all game with Michele Lamar Richards, Clyde Kusatsu, Timothy Bottoms, Francesco Quinn and John Kerry. Norris phones it in, while it's Reno who steals the show. There's even time mid-way through for Reno to take a break from the investigation to go to a dog show and mess about?! Aaron's direction is sturdy, but plain despite the acrobats where there's a cheap TV feel about it.

"Sit your rights down".

The movie has enough Chuck Moments and fun Dog moments that makes it worth the watch. However the story wasn't smooth and it felt forced. I feel like it was altered to take it from a R movie to PG-13, a lot of loose ends.

It's Chuck Norris movie in the 90's....what more is there to say?

Both movies, Turner and Hooch and K-9 were good films. Comedies with both a good story and good actors in the cast. Top Dog is a recycled version of something trying to market itself to be another K-9 or Turner and Hooch king of movie. Top Dog lacked a strong actor such as Tom Hanks or great comedy like in K-9. Chuck Norris, who has done a number of excellent action films and went off to do a successful television series (Walker: Texas Ranger), could not hold this film together. For a child's movie, maybe, this film could be considered something decent, but it failed to find an audience older than 13. It is obvious that the studios wanted a summer comedy with some karate style action. What they produced was a mistake.

Never since ALADDIN (1986, Bud Spencer) has there been a movie on drugs designed for family audiences young and old. And what makes a "family" movie? A scrungy old mutt and a boy on a bike! There's more, too! Chuck Norris gets to have a faithful companion who can outwit and outsmart terrorist scum! It's got a mass overload of everything your kids would appreciate! Fiery explosions, handguns, criminal organizations, the Pope, and bomb threats add more to your viewer-friendly pleasure, and...... I'll stop right there! Unless you can't handle what's in store in TOP DOG, please don't pick this one up! The combination of violent action with family-based material is an outrageous atrocity one will not want to believe. It suffers miserably on originality and plot, making this your cookie-cutter actioner. Mommy won't approve this flick to Johnny and Sally, even if it is rated PG-13!