Dogboys

Well Clark Kent is going to need all his skills to stay alive in this one.

Dean Cain ("Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman") is an ex-Marine that loves to fight, and it gets him in prison training dogs to chase after prisoners who try to escape. His buddy Willy B (Richard Chevolleau) we soon learn is trying to find out what's really going on. He is working for the super hot DA Jennifer Dern, played by the super hot Tia Carrere, whom I haven't seen since Wayne's World. Maybe I'll try to find a copy of Zombie Nightmare to see how she does in horror.

But, that's another story, here she is trying to enlist Cain's help to catch the evil Capt. Brown, played by Bryan Brown (Australia, "The Thorn Birds", FX), who has a scam going on the order of Emil Fouchon in Hard Target.

Not a great script, typically "B", but some good nasty-dog-on-man action, and a great pair exposed in the Warden's (Ken James) strip poker game as the hot DA comes running to rescue Cain once she figures out what is going on. Ah, but she doesn't know everything, yet.

What was Bryan Brown thinking? Well actually, one can get a fair idea judging from his one-dimensional and weak-as-water role-playing in a career of so many highlights. COCKTAIL deserved an Oscar nomination besides this.

Made for TV/Cable...perhaps even some film student's work experience program, this total rip-off of HARD TARGET/THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME and others, is beyond analysis. Tia Carrere looks ambarrassed to be there and Dean Cain confirms his casting as TV's Superman was a one-off "accident"......some might say, "waiting to happen" as is evidenced here.

Did anyone notice the Director here? None other than Ken Russell of WOMEN IN LOVE, THE DEVILS, THE MUSIC LOVERS, ALTERED STATES and GOTHIC fame? What freak of destiny one wonders, brought him to "direct" this atrocity? (and I use the term loosely!)

Shot on what looks suspiciously like video-tape,I cannot recall a more amateurish and totally unprofessional piece of cinematic flotsam! It would appear to have been shot over a long weekend so that Russell could get the last plane home to the UK, presumably for a decent breakfast!

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I thought that Dean Cain played the part very well. The script was not that good but Dean made the most of the part he played. Just looking at him was enough for me.Mind you i am a total Dean Cain addict and he is just great in everything he is in. Showed that he can play other parts just as well as Clark Kent. Tia Carrere played her part well but i am afraid that i thought Bryan Brown was awful.

For the younger generation out there who have seen this movie, it is essentially a remake of Mean Dog Blues, a 1970s George Kennedy movie. It's been updated a bit, with a slightly different story line, but the core is the same. As with most movies, I prefer the original. It's the same here.

Quick summary: it's about inmates who are responsible for training the dogs that hunt escaped convicts. I can't blame either Brian Brown or Dean Cain for being in this film, but I can blame Ken Russell for not making it well. Usual prison stuff but on a restricted budget and modest acting from the two above actors.

One scene contained standard prison bullies picking on a bloke double their size and with a bad temper. It just didn't work. You also have an 'older and wiser' inmate which seems to be standard stock for films such as these. Worst character must be the 'Jamaican' - one of the worst accents I've heard.

I suppose this is one for either Brian Brown or Dean Cain fans. You may wince through it, though. I found it agonising and I couldn't make it to the end.