Savage Dog (2016) - Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Juju Chan

[One Armed Boxer]

On 8/2/2017 at 2:30 AM, KUNG FU BOB said:

I'm tempted to, but want to support any US release that might happen. But I'm losing my patience. I watched it with a friend that bought the German Blu-ray, and I want it. Now.

The good news is that for those in the US, the wait is almost over.  As with 'Close Range', the guys at XLrator Media will be releasing 'Savage Dog' on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21st.  Rejoice! - 

http://cityonfire.com/scott-adkins-marko-zaror-juju-chan-unite-for-savage-dog-jesse-v-johnson/

[DragonClaws]

13 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

The good news is that for those in the US, the wait is almost over.  As with 'Close Range', the guys at XLrator Media will be releasing 'Savage Dog' on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21st.  Rejoice! -

Looks like U.K fans will have to wait a bit longer, at least those of us who havent obtained an import copy from abroad.

[KUNG FU BOB]

In mid to late August I received the German Blu-ray of SAVAGE DOG in the mail; a gift from a friend. So unless the XLrator Media release has some exclusive extras I won't be purchasing this US version. This is great news for Stateside Adkins fans though, and I urge you guys to pick this up. The company did a nice job on their CLOSE RANGE Blu-ray though, so hopefully they'll put out another good product.

[ShaOW!linDude]

I did a double feature last night of this and The Villainness. Regarding Savage Dog...

First, for the sake of discretion, I'll have to post some comments as hidden so as not to ruin the viewing experience for others.

The premise is okay and by no means original. But it works. The acting is serviceable. No Oscars being doled out here. Some of the indoor sets seem small and confining, and the way they are shot give the movie that "soap opera" feeling. (Maybe it's just me.) The outdoor sets were rather bland, but I imagine that's par for the course considering the setting of the film. Keith David makes a supporting appearance and serves to narrate the movie, and while I enjoy that to a degree, there's also something a little off about it. However, the action is very solid and brutal. It's kind of a mix of tournament and face-off fighting, and it works well here. Be warned that as a whole, the choreography is very grounded, and by that I mean that some of the flashy aerial moves that we all know Adkins and Zaror are capable of are nowhere to be found here, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

I love watching Adkins as a screen fighter. The guy is so good at selling his fights, and he has a variety of them in this. But the most notable are his fights against Cung Le and Marko Zaror. I have to say though that I was really kind of let down by the way his fight with Le ended, which is sad because as a whole the fight is really good. The Adkins/Zaror fight is very good, but I wouldn't say it matches their finale in Undisputed 3. That's a pretty high bar to meet. Still, this fight also ends on a really bizarre note that was so shocking initially, that I laughed out loud at how preposterous it was.

I watched this on Netflix. Need to score the dvd and I'll do a proper fight breakdown in a mini-review at some point. Now, no peeking.

Spoiler

A number of things about the movie just didn't sit well with me.

First is Keith David's narration. Why? Um, because his character dies midway through the movie but continues to narrate the story. That makes no sense.

Second, the reason I say the Adkins/Le fight was a letdown at the end is that Adkins doesn't properly finish off his foe in a hand to hand fight. Instead he snatches up a gun and shoots him. Not cool because things were so good up to this point.

Third, the Adkins/Zaror fight ends with what could be equated to a Thundering Mantis moment when Adkins stabs Zaror with his own knife in the side, cuts out a piece of an internal organ, and then tells the villain to watch as he takes a bite, chews it up, and spits it out. Yep. True story. What was that all about? I could understand if it was an act of ironic justice because Zaror's character resorted to that previously, but nope. This almost seems like a juvenile idea on the part of the director. "Oh, and what about after he stabs him, he, like, cuts out his liver and eats it? That would be gnarly, man." Yeah, it just really doesn't fit here.

 

[Karlos]

Great review, as always, @ShaOW!linDude

I love this weird, odd, nasty little film. 

As it looks like it's never coming out here in the UK, I grabbed the German BD - nice but decidedly low on extras.

 

[ShaOW!linDude]

5 hours ago, Karlos said:

Great review, as always, @ShaOW!linDude

I love this weird, odd, nasty little film. 

As it looks like it's never coming out here in the UK, I grabbed the German BD - nice but decidedly low on extras.

 

Thank you, sir. Hard to believe a British son can't get his own film released in his own country. 

I knew the dvd was coming out here in November the week of Thanksgiving and it hit Netflix the same time. Figured I'd nab it at Walmart but it was never there. Still haven't come across it in a store yet. Guess I'll have to score it through Amazon which is fine. My goof, my laziness.

[DragonClaws]

On 09/12/2017 at 8:46 PM, Karlos said:

As it looks like it's never coming out here in the UK, I grabbed the German BD - nice but decidedly low on extras.

I have the German BR in my sites, for when I do eventually order the movie in the near future.

@ShaOW!linDude write-up has only sold the movie to me even more.

 

On 10/12/2017 at 2:49 AM, ShaOW!linDude said:

Thank you, sir. Hard to believe a British son can't get his own film released in his own country.

The same thing happened with The Foreigner, and they filmed that movie over here as you know.

 

[Karlos]

@DragonClawsI think you'll love Savage Dog!

[DrNgor]

On 09/12/2017 at 6:46 PM, Karlos said:

I love this weird, odd, nasty little film. 

As it looks like it's never coming out here in the UK, I grabbed the German BD - nice but decidedly low on extras.

It's on Pay-Per-View here, so I'll get around to it. Now that I'm buying less movies and avoiding YouTube, I'll get around to a lot of these B-grade movies that don't get video rental releases, but get PPV releases.

[TheFlyingPanda]

I just placed Savage Dog in my Netflix Cue last night, Glad I read this thread to get some insight on the film. I'm definitely going to watch it.