It’s
safe to say Paul Schrader’s career as a director has never been quite as
successful as his career as the writer of such classics as Taxi Driver and
Raging Bull. But as much as it’s hardly fair to compare Schrader’s recent output
to his glory days, it’s also impossible not to consider his most recent film,
Dog Eat Dog a huge disappointment. That is, unless you saw Schrader’s last film
Dying of the Light which also starred Nicholas Cage. In which case, things are
looking up… slightly.

Dog Eat Dog is not only a re-teaming of
Cage and Schrader, but also of Cage and Willem Dafoe; their first since David
Lynch’s Wild At Heart. Based on the novel by real-life criminal Eddie Bunker, Dog
Eat Dog is the tale of three jailbirds fresh out of the joint, who while
looking to make some fast money, become embroiled in a plot to steal a baby
from a rival gangster. With so much stupidity and psychopathic tendencies on
display from the central trio, it’s not a surprise that nothing goes to plan.

Opening with a talk show interviewee
spouting some nonsense about making the world safer by having more people
carrying guns, Dog Eat Dog feels like it’s perhaps going to be a contemporary
crime thriller with something interesting to say. No such luck. Stuck in the
typical gangster milieu of strip clubs and sleazy bars, with its grizzled old
ex-cons spouting casually racist lines and engaging in bad taste ‘comedy’
killing scenes, this feels like Schrader trying to emulate Tarantino and all
the hip young filmmakers who probably grew up adoring Schrader’s early output
with Scorsese at the helm.

The tone is all over the place, wallowing
in the coked-up excesses of this sad trio as they get themselves mixed up in a
job that is out of their league. They make for a cheerless bunch; Cage taking
the lead, but being blown out of the water by Dafoe’s electric, but completely
OTT performance. It should be depressing, but they’re all so unlikeable that
it’s impossible to care for any of them, even as they are revealed to be so far
be out of touch with the world and far from the brightest sparks. Only
Christopher Matthew Cook as Diesel, the third corner of this mismatched
triangle approaches anything close to sympathetic with his toned down
performance becoming a welcome relief from Cage and Dafoe’s attempts to
dominate proceedings.

Schrader doesn’t help
his stars by seemingly allowing them to try out anything and matching the
craziness of their performances with a style that never settles. Schrader
appears desperate to pack the film with zippy cuts and wacky editing in a vain
attempt to give the film a modern edge. Unfortunately, all Dog Eat Dog reveals
is a group of talented people with their best work long behind them.

DOG EAT DOG / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR &
SCREENPLAY: PAUL SCHRADER / STARRING: NICOLAS CAGE, WILLEM DAFOE, PAUL
SCHRADER, MAGI AVILA, CHRISTOPHER MATTHEW COOK / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 11TH

Expected: 6
Actual Rating: