Dog Soldiers

It's about time I saw this movie! And I'm convinced that if it wasn't for Netflix that I would still be missing out on this little gem. This is a film that come out in 2002 and has been sitting on rental store shelves, box seen but film unseen, for so long. There was a time when I would frequent Blockbuster and this movie would stand prominently, begging for attention every time, but every time, I would turn my back and walk away from it, treating it like an abandoned pup in the forest. But this is no pup, this is a werewolf, and I'm surprised I wasn't disemboweled as I walked through the metal detectors of those now-obsolete rental stores.

Somebody once told me that werewolf movies were my thing and I took that to fact because I can't stop pimping An American Werewolf in London. Aside from that I'm not entirely sure I've seen too many other 'wolf films, aside from Wolf and the disappointing The Wolfman (2010). The fact is though I like the idea of being a werewolf movie guy, and now feel an urge to live up to the title and get into them more. It's certainly better and more attractive than being a "vampire guy" and trying to justify the bile coming out of Hollywood at the moment in that genre. What better way to get into the werewolf craze than a nine year old movie about a British military squad stumbling onto a group werewolves in the Scottish Highlands?

And that's basically the plot: a small British military squad led by none other than Kevin McKidd - Lucius Vorenus himself - are in the middle of a training exercise when things start going awry. They stumble upon another military bunch (who of course are doing secret things) and things take a turn for the worse. They are hunted by these werewolves, and eventually take refuge in an old home, thanks to a zoologist they find randomly about. What we have here is a Zulu situation, except instead of thousands of Zulu warriors we have a handful of werewolves, who have simpler desires: to devour and satisfy their hunger for human flesh. 

The action is great: you feel like they could be making progress shooting at their enemy, but you can't be certain as the point of view is always from the squad members inside the house. Shoot at a werewolf poking his head into a boarded up window, and he disappears howling into the darkness. Is he dead? Just getting rejuvenated? Perhaps these monsters don't need silver to be killed. We get little tidbits here and there on how these monsters are different and similar to how they've been portrayed before in story and films. The soldiers only care about one thing though, survival, and any myths aside, they know they have to outrun their foe or wait until daylight, as that's one mythos that can never be broken. The full moon grants them their power, and it's disappearance means the same for these damned souls.

Dog Soldiers does not mess around that much: it gets off to a shaky start as it travels back in time a few hours for absolutely no good reason. The opening scene is of course a cliche young couple get ready for action, then promptly attacked. The film takes us back a few hours to set up some characters, then just as quickly, four weeks later. But after this bit of odd pacing is taken care of, it's a smooth ride all the way out. We get to see some good werewolves: there is not a single shot of blatant CGI here. We get werewolf special effects that make me happy, because they are unique to the film. They seem "realistic" if I can even use that word here. We don't see transformations, but you can see the human behind their grotesque form. The camera cuts to them and back again quickly mimicking, I'm sure, the frantic nature you would find yourself drowning in should you come face to face with one. There's the requisite and sufficient amount of gore and horrible things present. It's a good ride, and one that I feel bad for not taking much earlier.