The Dogs of War

The entire beginning and middle of the film are utterly engrossing. It was a nice change to see a film that showed the amount of planning and attention to detail and contingency plans that goes into preparing a military operation, even a quick raid like the one planned here. The final raid however is a disappointment though, especially because of the realistic and detailed nature of the film to that point. These are serious professional mercenaries in a gritty realistic film and in the final battle, logic and realism go out the window as these "professionals" walk slowly in the open firing from the hip like they were in a Rambo film. Had they fought like that in real life, they'd have all been killed in the first few seconds. I don't think the director understood the nature of combat and that's too bad because otherwise, this film is a gem.

Oddly enough I have never heard about "The Dogs of War" before now in mid-2019 when I found the movie. I saw that Christopher Walken was in it, and that was all I needed to sit down and watch it.

Turns out that "The Dogs of War" was actually a nice and enjoyable movie. Now, mind you, this movie definitely has its ups and down, some thrilling parts and some less thrilling parts. But the overall result of director John Irvin's movie from 1980 was actually good.

The storyline is good and you easily and quickly immerse yourself into the plot and storyline. And the pacing of the movie was, for the most parts, quite good.

The characters in the movie were fair and well enough detailed to make you have an interest in them. And they had a good ensemble of actors and actresses to portray the various roles. Needless to say that Christopher Walken was of course carrying the movie quite nicely. And he had some good assistance from the likes of Tom Berenger and Paul Freeman. It was a nice surprise to see the likes of Ed O'Neil and JoBeth Williams in a movie such as this, despite having small roles.

While "The Dogs of War" certainly was entertaining for what it turned out to be, I wouldn't really say that this the type of movie that you will watch more than once. It just didn't really have enough contents to warrant more than a single viewing.

There is a wonderful sense of good old days to "The Dogs of War" in terms of the way the story was told and how the movie was constructed and executed. So there could be some nostalgic value to the movie for some viewers as well.

Shannon (Christopher Walken) is a mercenary war who accepted for the sum of 15,000 dollars to fly to a fictional country in West Africa on a survey mission to procure military information concerning the stability of a dictator's regime, his position strength, and if there is any chance for a coup?

Posing as an American naturalist—especially in native birds—Shannon landed in Zangaro and gathered all the facts he needed but after suffering a brutal beating from the guards for taking pictures of one of the mistresses of the dictator's in front of his compound…

When he's offered a large amount of money to gather a well-equipped mercenary force and go back to Zangaro and lead a military takeover, he reluctantly assents…

The assault has authority, power and unexpected... consequences. So don't miss it!

The best of the "hired killers takes out a bassackwards third world African nation in ten minutes or less" genre. Christopher Walken fans will love this one as he occupies the camera for about 98% of the film and does an admirable job playing ringleader to a small band of mercenaries hired by London's Enron branch to take down some dude with a Gucci sword named Kimba, the benevolent ruler of Okka Bokka Boo. The pace is a little slow for my tastes but they threw in my favorite girl next door, JoBeth Williams, as Walkens ex-wife just to keep me occupied while the guns were being shipped in from Switzerland or somewhere. All I can tell you is the climax is worth waiting for. It's outstanding actually. The DVD is a little disappointing. 2ch sound and no widescreen. See if you can spot Ed O'Neill from Married With Children fame. 7 hand grenades/10

This movie is the most realistic treatment I've seen of what real mercenary operations and business travels are like. Any who have traveled to third world hell holes like "Zangaro" feel as though they must have had a camera following them around to get the background for this movie, the airport arrival, the hotel holding passports, the "tour guide" and the bar toast are as realistic as you can get. If you like movies that show the real nitty gritty, the backdoor politics, the backstabbing and intrigue that is international diplomacy catch this one the next time it's on cable.