Alpha Dog

When I saw the rating of this movie on IMDb.com, I couldn't believe my eyes. This movie definitely deserves a much better rating (around 7 would be the appropriate rating). This is a story about spoiled, misguided teenagers who do nothing but smoke pot, drink and party. Understandably, all of the teenager characters act in accordance with this care-free life style. So, you should expect this sort of behavior from them (a lot of cursing, violence, sex, drug usage, etc.). I think the director did a terrific job of portraying the setting for this type of life style.

There are two rival parties of youngsters and one guy, Jake Mazursky, owes some money to another guy, Johnny Truelove. Jake is a typical unruly teenager but his younger brother Zack is a nice kid who seems to have a brighter future than his older brother. But when Jake refuses to pay off his debt to Johnny Truelove, they kidnap his younger brother Zack as a hostage. Surprisingly, Zack develops a nice rapport with his kidnappers; being a nice kid, he easily connects even with the unruly kind. He doesn't even seem to be willing to escape from his kidnappers.

This is an excellent film showing the extend of damage that can be caused by the misguided youngsters. They live in a world where even the most stupid acts can be accepted as being "cool" or "desirable". Too much pot smoking and drugs, not enough oxygen in the brain cells. Are these kids really that stupid or are they stupefied by all the drugs they take? I think this is a movie all parents should watch and they should watch it really carefully before things are too late.

Surprisingly powerful film with strong performances from a huge cast of recognizable faces. Gritty and unsettling how far this "kidnapping" goes which hits home at the end when the audience is told what happened to everyone involved.

It's a fact based drama surrounding a middle class drug dealer and his gang of 20-ish friends who kidnap the teenager brother of a client who owes them money and refuses to pay. Some big surprises in the acting department from a very likable Justin Timberlake and also Anton Yelchin. Ben Foster is F'n crazy but in an awesome way, he continues to impress me the more I see of him and then there's Sharon Stone -Wow, crazy lady in the fat suit. As an FYI The F-word and its derivatives is said 411 times in this movie. 7/11/14

Maybe I just had to wait too long for this one to finally come out. I have never been a Justin Timberlake fan, but he was one of the best things about this movie. You cannot dislike him in this. He does a good job of showing us the moral dilemma he is twisting in. I always love Emile Hirsch but found this character a little one dimensional. Gone were the moments where you can see everything he thinks and feels on his face as when he portrays Z-boy Jay Adams or as Tim Travis in "Imaginary Heroes." He is supposed to be the heartless bad guy in this and since he is portraying a real person perhaps the flatness of this character is due to an accurate depiction of real life Jesse James Hollywood. What this character lacks in emotion, others, such as "Susan" and "Keith," give us a bit more to watch. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone are believable most of the time, but some moments feel incongruent (Stones final scene for example was over the top and in such a bad way). Likewise Ben Foster's Jake Mazursky is all over the place as a strung out-stressed out loser that starts the whole mess. He has moments of brilliance but otherwise he's just too much. The movie is way too long and tries to focus on every player in this truly tragic story. I would have liked more of Anton Yelchin's Zach and more of the emotional battles of the key characters and far less of the get high and blast out violent rap while insulting our sex partners in front of the whole gang. The story itself is captivating, but the movie tries too hard to do too much and gets in its own way. Yet I don't feel cheated out of the ticket price.

ALPHA DOG

This was not what I expected. I didn't really know much about this film. I recorded it off of the TV because it said it had Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone in it… little did I know that they had very small parts.

The movie is a drama about a group of 20 something's all running around in gangs, smoking pot, causing trouble and waving guns around. A rival starts up between Johnny Truelove and Jake Mazursky over an unpaid debt… The rivalry really takes a nasty turn when Johnny kidnaps Jakes brother. All of a sudden, this group of guys has a hostage that actually enjoys hanging out with them. This group are completely useless and have no experience in this kind of thing. It all gets out of control.

The story is based on actual events. We all know that this means that there are a few real parts, but the rest has been completely made up. But either way, this film is very well put together. It is a very interesting story. It is a shame that these guys lives were ruined by something so stupid. It felt like this was an on the spot decision that they will regret for the rest of their lives. It is a sad film in places. You grow to actually like a couple of these guys… but you also really hate a couple of them. It is also very annoying when a character who is the leader of a gang is actually gutless. He lies to his gang to make himself look like the big hard leader, but in reality he hides when there is trouble.

The casting was very good. The actors were Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Justin Timberlake, Vincent Kartheiser, Shawn Hatosy, Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone. There was not one bad actor in this film. They all did great jobs.

The drama was very gripping in this. You really want this film to have a happy ending, but you don't know what is going to happen until you see it. It keeps you hanging really well.

It is not the best drama I have ever seen, but it is still very good.

I will give this film 7 out of 10.

"Dude, this shirt is f****** cool, Bob Marley is cool, you guys think the kidnapping is cool?"

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Alpha Dog is based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz and related events in 2000. The story revolves around a drug deal gone awry. Jake Mazursky(Ben Foster) didn't pay Johny Truelove(Emile Hirsch) the money he was suppose to. Infuriated, Johny, with the help of his friends, kidnaps Jake Mazursky's brother, 15 year old Zack Mazursky(Anton Yelchin) as some sort of ransom to force Jake to pay him. Johnny's friends eventually become attached to the kid and the boy is actually having the time of his life but in the end something terrible happens... Be aware that Alpha Dog is raw and gritty, after all the film portrays, in part at least, the world of drug dealing, but one can argue that it portrays, as well, how an entire generation in America is in disgrace, some chose to be delinquents but for others, this is all they've known their entire lives and their parents exhibit the same kind of behavior. Cassavetes did a great job telling this story and the cast was exceptional. Ben Foster is truly amazing as the crazy and deranged drug addict Jake Mazursky and Anton Yelchin was perfect as Jake's naive little brother and god damn it, even Justin Timberlake delivered! Towards the end of the movie he plays an emotional scene so well that you can't help but wonder if he didn't chose the wrong career. Emile Hirsch wasn't bad but was definitely out shined by the rest of the cast. The supporting cast is composed by such actors as Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Amber Heard and Olivia Wilde. Overall, Alpha Dog is a well directed and extremely well acted movie that seems to depict in a very truthful way a very unfortunate event. Definitely a good watch!

7.5/10