Top Dog

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.

Not a nail in Chuck Norris' career, as one reviewer put it. I come to the defense of this nice little film for the strong message it carries. Anyone who was a fan of "Walker, Texas Ranger" can certainly see the core values of Chuck Norris in this film. Mister Norris is a man of great integrity and strong human values. He accepts diversity and from watching him, tolerates no bigotry at all. That's the message I appreciated so much in watching top dog, although the vehicle used could have been better executed. In a world where diversity should be the rule of the day, and learning from our past a virtue, Mister Norris, like a lot of us, sees the need to remind people of our past and what we should strive for in the future. It's one of the reasons I regularly watched Walker, to see the triumph of good over evil. More films like this, with a strong message are needed. Film is a medium, not only to entertain, but to educate us. That education could be for good or bad. Mister Norris chose the good, and I applaud him for that, and his integrity.

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".

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!

The cover of this movie implies that it is a good old family movie about Chuck Norris teaming up with a dog to take down the bad guys. And whilst Chuck does team up with a dog the movie is gloriously violent and definitely not a kids movie. The main villains are Neo-Nazis, very kid friendly! Of course Norris made movies much more violent and brutal than this but comparing to Turner And Hooch this is American History X. It also has a surprisingly high amount of hand to hand combat which Chuck always excels at. The movie is of course incredibly stupid in general but it is fun and a must see for those that enjoy the great works of Chuck Norris.