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Martial arts actor Scott Adkins usually has a good sense of what film projects to pick, so when I found this particular film of his on Netflix, I took the opportunity to see it. It's not one of his very best movies, but overall it does have enough good things to warrant it a recommendation. Yes, it could have been a lot better than it ultimately is. The script is for the most part a collection of plot turns and occurrences that you will have seen many times before. The characters are also not that new as well. There are also some slow patches that will on occasion have the viewer telling the movie to simply get on with it. Also, there is a weird narration device throughout that doesn't really add anything, instead coming across as a possible post-production patch-up job.

But most people don't watch movies like this for their writing. Instead, they watch them for plentiful (and well done) action sequences. And when it comes to this part of the movie, things are pretty well done. The action (a mix of gunplay and martial arts) is very well crafted. In fact, it's pretty brutal, exciting, and bloody at times; whoever provided the fake blood for this movie probably comfortably retired when filming was completed.

As I indicated earlier, this is far from a perfect movie. It certainly isn't for everybody at any time. I would say that if you are in the mood for some brutal and well crafted action, and don't mind sitting through an awkward and very familiar story, the movie will grab your attention for 95 minutes.

I found "Savage Dog" on Netflix and decided to give it a watch, as Scott Atkins have some fair enough movies every now and again.

"Savage Dogs" was not a particularly outstanding movie, nor was it a bad one. It was actually entertaining enough for what it turned out to be, just don't get your expectations up too high.

The story was straight forward, albeit quite predictable and generic. So director and writer Jesse V. Johnson didn't really throw the audience anything to think about. You simply just lean back and enjoy the ride for what it turned out to be.

As an action movie, then "Savage Dog" of course have martial arts and fight scenes. The fight scenes were adequate, although very visibly staged and choreographed to the extend where it wasn't looking all that natural. Well, except for the fight between Cung Le and Scott Atkins.

The cast was good and did alright jobs with their given roles, even though they had very little to work with in terms of storyline and plot.

This is a mediocre action movie, and hardly a movie that you will watch more than once.

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

This is one of the better Adkins movies of late, with the exception of The Accident Man and The Debt Collector, much of his recent stuff had been below par.

Savage Dog is far from perfect but it does have some great fights (the key element for this type of film) and it does have a good enough story.

Are there some moment I wish they hadn't shot, yes, especially for 10 minutes right in the middle, but overall its pretty good.

Adkins is proving over the years he is the best at delivering contemporary fights scenes.

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 ....