Mr. Orange, the undercover Dog, has spent many months training to act and think like a criminal. He gives his fellow boys in blue the robbery tip which results in extensive gunfire. Many civilians are killed or wounded. Students of violence will find this movie irresistible. It manages to blend horrible violence into the drama of dialogue which makes the violence paradoxically far more fascinating yet also revolting.
Violence intrudes into everything, even positive, friendship-like relationships.
And for students of criminal justice, there is a lot here about police intervention. One suspects that if left alone to their criminal enterprises, the Dogs would use occasional, instrumental violence. But police intervention broke the trust among the Dogs, and it was this as much as anything, that led to the uncontrolled violence that consumed them all. Thoroughly recommended for classes on violence, policing, and theories of criminality. Leo Barrile, Bloomsburg University Michael Lynch, Florida State University, Tallahassee.