Hounds of War

I was actually looking forward to watching this. Frank Grillo movies are decent for the most part and after seeing Isaac Florentine was the director I figured it would be on the lower budget side but with good/solid action sequences. I've always enjoyed Florentine/Adkins collaborations. Unfortunately this one fell short. The action just felt choppy and off the mark. It had its moments but all the hand-to-hand, well, wasn't good. Replace Frank with Scott Adkins and it most likely would have been better. It's entertaining enough but it's one I don't think I'd sit down and watch again. It's to bad, I really wanted to like it.

Underwhelming & boring right from start. Bad editing & audio effect; Most of the film sounded muffled with certain parts jumping up and down. The film is obviously another independent low budget relying on a couple B-list actors in order to help sell it. All the rest of the "actors" are just D-list nobodies with cringing acting. The first scene is just unrealistic..... the President would have more than just a handful of secret service visibly around. I just saw Gillo in another film that got released same day "Long Gone Heroes" which was slightly better; ratings between the 2 films proves it.

Grillo always make the B grade action movies looks better.. Yeah it's a cliche story but enough to you chill n relax in 90min..a little bit harsh if lower than 4/10... The careography of the action, the locations of the movie.. the camera.

Hounds of War" is a gritty action film that focuses on mercenaries involved in a conflict in a fictional country. The story delves into themes of loyalty, betrayal, and the moral complexities of war. It showcases intense action sequences and character-driven narratives, exploring the personal motivations of those who fight for profit rather than patriotism. The film is noted for its realistic portrayal of combat and the psychological impact of warfare on the characters.

I think I'm being generous with this rating. Hounds Of War the latest film from prominent DTV director Issac Florentine and the second Grillo film of the year so far following Lights Out, is derivative, poorly paced and worst of all boring.

Robert Patrick can play roles like this in his sleep at this point. Same could be said for Rhona Mitra. Mitra and Grillo are supposed to play an ex couple here but without this movie telling you that you likely wouldn't know, since they have virtually no chemistry at all in their scenes together. Grillo even though he's the lead barely has any screen time or lines of dialogue for some odd reason. The action scenes feel drawn out and like pure visual noise to draw out the runtime and make up for the fact that this movie barely has a story.

Grillo has another movie, Long Gone Heroes also releasing this week. Hopefully it's better than this.

While the film is long winded in the exposition of locales at times, I think it's a solid B action movie. I'm not sure why anyone would call it trash as it's better than 90% of the stuff being made today. It has a solid cast, and the acting is on par with a film of its caliber, if not better. The action is well done and if it had any real fault, I would say it's the editing. There is a little too much filler to seemingly pad the runtime and I'm not a fan of starting a movie with a scene and then travelling back in time to see how the protagonist got to this point. It never works. I didn't like it in John Wick and I don't like it anywhere else. It's basically a movie spoiler shown up front.

Hollywood should stop being scared of making shorter movies. I would easily accept a 75-minute B movie with good pacing that kept you in the meat of the story.

Overall, this movie was enjoyable, and I watched it all the way through, which is more than I can say for a lot of other movies recently.