Dog Eat Dog

Plot synopsis:
Several thugs including Victor Peñaranda, are found in the house of a man named Alberto Cardona known as "El Mellizo" (The Twin). Peñaranda and another thug, known as Zabala, torture Twin until accidentally killing him in order to recover the money stolen from "El Orejon" (Big Ears), head of the above-mentioned thugs and leader of the underworld of Cali. Don Pablo, intermediary of "El Orejón" and the thugs, orders a search for money around the house and Peñaranda which he finds in a black bag in a pot. Peñaranda decides to steal the money, claiming to Don Pablo and the other thugs that he did not find any such money inside the house. For its part, "El Orejón" attends the funeral of his godson William Medina, murdered in Buenaventura near Cali.
Then "El Orejón", being a devotee of witchcraft, has the witch Iris put a curse on the murderer of Medina as a way in which he would suffer the most. Soon "El Orejón" meets Don Pablo demanding the money from "The Twins" but Don Pablo notified that such money was never found at home. To complete such a mission "The Orejón" calls Silvio Sierra to help Don Pablo who reculutanly accepts.
Don Pablo hires Eusebio Benitez and Victor Peñaranda to find the stolen money. Peñaranda left for Cali and stays in a small downtown hotel where are staying Benitez who also had sex with a beautiful girl. Between the two are awaiting instructions for the operation which did not have many details. Peñaranda unexpectedly answers the call from a man demanding to know the name of the hotel where they are housed and about a woman named Adela, but Peñaranda denies knowing anything. Then they both get a call from Sierra who waits in the lobby of the hotel. Benitez and Peñaranda go downstairs to the lobby where they see Sierra cracking jokes among themselves about a black thug like Benitez. All three are directed to the funeral of the first "Twin" waiting to find the other "twin" and collect the money from "El Orejón" while Benitez is spitting the grave of William Medina, because Benitez had killed before. After watching the funeral, Don Pablo asks the three results of the operation, especially under the suspicion of Peñaranda had the money, Don Pablo would not retaliate and give the money to his employer at the same time to invent something his henchmen not suffer the consequences. Peñaranda denies had money and tries to call his wife secretly to give the stolen money as this and their daughter would live in America.
Back at the hotel, Benitez began to suffer from nightmares for a curse laid by the Witch Iris. Such dreams evoked voices aa funeral prayer of a time that William Medina appeared almost waking up in his coffin after the fatal shot had given Benitez and being thrown into a sewer.
As the next task, Benitez, Peñaranda and Sierra and found a guy, the other "Twin" Harold and his lawyer Omar. The "Twin" shoots Sierra and managed to escape but his lawyer is wounded and interrogated in the car, which had gas leaks. The lawyer said that one of the assassins who had killed the first "Twin" including Peñaranda could have stolen the money, Sierra murders him and thrown into river.
For his part, "El Orejón" does not believe in the actions taken by Iris to avenge Medina and from his building whose possessed several telescopes and keeps tabs on Benitez and Peñaranda. Peñaranda keeps hidden the stolen money but lost the calm while Benitez will suffer physically and morally a great remorse for the curse placed by Iris; the constant nightmares and inexplicably their candles are extinguished. To make matters worse Peñaranda still getting calls from the same man looking for Adela, which makes the patient lose insulted and threatened the man.
"El Orejón" blames Don Pablo for having neglected his thugs but for now forgive his life, while Benitez learns from a partner Don Pascual of the curse placed by Iris and Don Pascual recommends him visit the dead and to remove an object from his right hand which is part of the curse ang gives Benítez a plant for a protuberance in his right hand, part of the curse. Benitez almost falls into madness after constant nightmares in which is in the place of the murdered Medina. One day Peñaranda watch Iris posing as Concierge of the hotel to see her in cleaning the room but is startled to see that Iris had in his hands black garbage bags, which reach the hands of the girl that maintained relations with Benítez. Peñaranda is even still receiving calls from men seeking Adela to what makes it more angry and between the two is threaten each other, while Benitez suffers more hallucinations in the shower for killing Medina. Peñaranda meanwhile is cited with Don Pablo in a coffee shop being guarded by "El Orejón" who almost loses patience with a building clogging them the monitoring of Peñaranda. Peñaranda waits for Don Pablo but him doesn't arrives and notes in the newspaper that his teammates (including Zabala) were killed and immediately calls his wife to communicate it more soon with him unsuccessfully.
"El Orejón" doubt the curse placed by Iris cited Benítez which seems quiet and Iris ensures that the man tormented by the curse. Peñaranda is hiding the money in a dog Teddy and tries to call his wife to flee with the money but this asks that they not become to see after hearing the provenance of the money. "El Orejón" interrogates Benítez who claims not to know of the murder of Medina and whether Peñaranda stole the money, the leader of the underworld laughs namely Peñaranda was only a stuffed animal as a personal object and proof they do kill a man in the middle of a square.
Peñaranda tries to escape alone with money but then receives the untimely call from the same man looking for Adela and Peñaranda tries to ignoring it. Also arrive Sierra and Benitez, this locks himself in the bathroom still tormented by the curse and Sierra says Peñaranda that "El Orejón" had given the order to Peñaranda for murder Benitez. Benitez that same night, goes to the graveyard and complies with recommended by Pascual, urine on the dead and wakes up in the morning with a great suffocation, and shock, reaches Sierra telling them both that the other "Twin" had been captured, Sierra answer the call of the same man who repeatedly sought to Adela and says that she had been murdered and subsequently all three are a sand factory and Sierra way them tells Peñaranda and Benítez of that Don Pablo had died the previous day.
In the sand factory, "El Orejón" receives three thugs and shows them to the "Twin" tortured. The "Twin" states emphatically that Peñaranda killed his brother and stole the money, but Peñaranda denies it. Not knowing who to believe, the head of the underworld; "El Orejón" instructs Peñaranda dismember alive the "Twin" with a chainsaw. Seeing that the "Twin", now dead, was not lying, "El Orejón" insults Peñaranda and threatens to give his money or otherwise he'll kill with the same chainsaw to his wife or his daughter. Sierra pulled the death remains of the "Twin" and orders definitely killed Benitez, this gets tired of his racial insults beats Sierra presumably kill him, Peñaranda in turn kills Torres, bodyguard of "El Orejón" and when Peñaranda preparing to kill Benítez asks her not to kill him to thus ending "El Orejón", both cremate the corpse of Sierra. Once "The Orejón" is killed after of the funeral of Don Pablo, Peñaranda abandons Benítez and difficulty reaching the hotel then kill a policeman and the hotel manager, and trying to permanently flee with the money he is killed beaten to death by the burly mad man who was seeking to Adela, this demencial man is killed by Benítez who fled with the money but still tormented by the curse and the film ends with Benítez following Medina; Benitez is also killed.

Tags: murder

Review:
Sad but true for Director/Writer Paul Schrader - A man with a career of 20 films, among them Taxi and Raging Bull - His career as a director remains unseen by his work as a screenwriter for Martin Scorsese - A legacy we will always remember him for - With Dog Eat Dog, Schrader tries to remind us that he is still relevant in the world - Ignoring one small fact - Everyone in this day and age can and will judge you harshly, no matter the reputation.
Stylized as a low-budget Neo-noir crime caper with the talents of Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe and Schrader himself taking on a role, respectfully making comparisons to Quentin Tarantino's earlier films - With heavy-handed dialogue, harsh and senseless barbarity and a convoluted plot not worth following to its third act - Which is based on the novel of the same name by Edward Bunker.Troy (Nicolas Cage), Mad Dog (Willem Dafoe), and Diesel (Christopher Matthew Cook) are a couple of goofball criminals, all with clichéd traits - Troy (The Straight-Man), Mad Dog (The Loose Cannon), and Diesel (The Muscle), tired of small end jobs they decide to pull off one last big score - Which involves kidnapping the baby of a rival mobster.
The idea of Troy, Cage's character - A movie buff with delusions of being a Humphrey Bogart lookalike is a small moment that stands out, adding more layers to a none the less complicated character.In part, Nicolas Cage as Troy is subdued and less comical as we'd expect from a Nicolas Cage performance - Willem Dafoe as Mad Dog is fine and yet misunderstood - A man yearning for love and friendship, yet afraid to admit it.
Christopher Matthew Cook as Diesel is less intriguing, as he stumbles with stoic and apprehensive tendencies.Cinematographer Alexander Dynan never really shows us anything new to take in or marvel at besides the story itself - Perhaps in part to the editing by Ben Rodriguez Jr., who provides quick and fast paced editing.Dog Eat Dog may inspire some with its unique flare or visuals - Fast and quick insert cuts - Or its simplistic story, whatever the reason only time will tell if we remember this as Paul Schrader film..
In short, the pacing was fantastic (not a dull moment, but at the same time you really got to know the characters), the actors all clearly were really enjoying making the movie and gave their characters their all (Willem Defoe in particular, and Nicholas Cage was completely revitalized for this role).
Starts out entertaining enough, the first 10 minutes or so offers some absolutely insane dark comedy from Willem Defoe.But eventually (fairly early tbh) the script runs out of steam and it takes a more serious (not so comedic at least) turn but more so goes all over the place with little to no coherency at times.I can't help but to think that this movie must have been at least 30 minutes longer but edited down to the point where one minute for instance a person is caught by the police and the next he's free with no explanation as to how this happened.Not that I think that the movie being 2 hours instead of 90 would have helped it much though tbh because the editing is far from the only problem this movie has.Nicholas Cage's character appears to change from one scene to the next after a while, starting off as the more sensible criminal of the trio but eventually lashing off and appears to try to outcrazy Willem Defoe (who is the crazy guy in the group).Why did I say trio you ask, well there's actually a third guy with the same importance as Cage and Defoe and that is the unknown Christopher Matthew Cook, I'm guessing he is good friends with the director or something because he just becomes 'the other guy' when put in to the same position as 2 stars like Cage and Defoe and doesn't have the acting-chops to rise above it.Cook's character is said by Cage's character to be incredibly intelligent talking about how if he lived in another universe he would have been a Harvard student, but there's nothing that Cook's character says or does in the film that suggest that he is particularly smart.There's a lot of random stuff like that that doesn't go anywhere and a lot of random stuff that doesn't come from anywhere, like the last 5 minutes, very random.Anyways all in all it just becomes a pointless and confusing Tarantino wanna be of a film..
I liked it, it's not the best thing Nicolas Cage has been in, but you can't put it under the category of bad Cage movie, Especially when running lines with William Defoe who was worth watching in this flick and brought great essence to it.
The film is suppose to be about three crooks kidnapping a baby, yet this plot seems subliminal in relation to watching three crooks, one of them just recently released from jail have a good time, and see how they became acquaintances in the first place.It's like the director is trying to tell us that we don't need a plot for a movie to be interesting, but I have to admit that this point my come across better if I knew it was going to be a convict version of Seinfeld, while waiting for these guys to do something.
"Dog Eat Dog" offers nothing to the genre that hasn't already been done, seen or attempted in other similar movies.And watching Nicolas Cage stumble through this script wasn't particularly helpful to the movie.
And however good Willem Dafoe is, then he just didn't manage to lift the movie out of the overwhelming less-than-mediocre shadow that shrouded it.The dialogue throughout the movie was not impressive, and many a times I found myself with my toes curled up because of the dialogue that was presented by the characters on the screen.My interest and attention to the movie drifted off a couple of times throughout the course of the movie, because it just seemed like a myriad of multiple chaotic and scrambled scenes shot independently were being put together to form a movie; and that movie became "Dog Eat Dog".I did manage to stick with the movie to the end.
While Dafoe's character takes the definition of wacko to a whole new level, Cage's calm and composed character is like a time bomb waiting to explode.If you are a fan of Cage and/or Dafoe and/or Schrader, you simply cannot afford to miss Dog Eat Dog.For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film blog "A Potpourri of Vestiges"..
I used to have respect for Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe before watching this boring movie which is nothing but a lazy plot with meaningless violence.
First of all, There are two things that make this movie acceptable, the story which is based on a novel and Willem Dafoe who really impressed me, everything else was just bad.Matthew Wilder who wrote the screenplay, please just stop it, don't write anymore, it's bad.
RELEASED IN 2016 and directed by Paul Schrader, "Dog Eat Dog" chronicles events in the greater Cleveland area when a trio of loser ex-cons (Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe & Christopher Matthew Cook) is employed by a Mafioso to abduct the infant of a rival gangster.Schrader's films are often preoccupied with Christian religion and sexual obsession (porn, strip joints, prostitution, nudity, etc.), as verified by "Hardcore" (1979), "Cat People" (1982) and "Auto Focus" (2002).
I should have known better - Nicholas cage is a pretty weak actor (and I'm being kind) who's been lucky enough to be in a couple of half decent action movies - the rest of his films are complete rubbish and this is no exception.
Teaming up with cinema-dodging king Nicolas Cage for the second time (after 2014's Dying of the Light), Schrader's latest - an incredibly violent and misanthropic crime thriller called Dog Eat Dog - may just be worst thing the once- respectable writer-director has ever put out.Back in 1976, Schrader's script for Taxi Driver immersed us in the seedy and scum-laden underbelly of New York, a part of the world unseen by the majority of us, and demanded that we contemplate this world of our making.
Dog Eat Dog is a film of Nicolas Cages which is a lot better than The Trust and I which I really enjoyed watching and liked.
The film about Troy, Mad Dog and Diesel played by Cage, Dafoe and C.M Cook are part of a crew of ex cons hired by a Cleveland mafioso to kidnap the baby of a rival mobster starts out a little bit weak but it quickly improves and was a very good film.
The 3-men in case you want to know are : Nicolas Cage as Troy; Willem Dafoe as Mad Dog, and Christopher Matthew Cook as Diesel.Watch as you wish, but I would pass.
In fact for this type of movies there are a bunch of Quentin Tarantino wannabees who could had done a better job blindfolded.The one big problem with the film is that you hate all the main characters so the movie has nothing to offer.One time Oscar winner but now straight to pay television star, Nicolas Cage plays Troy who narrates the film.
It's likely that we'll never fully understand just what happened to famed writer/director Paul Schrader and his once highly promising career.The writer of Raging Bull and Taxi Driver at one time seemed like a potential once in a generation type of voice, those films clearly attest to that, but since the glory days of the late 70's and 80's, Schrader has since disappeared into being a writer and a director of such forgettable oddities as The Walker and The Canyons, that now Schrader is but a ghost of his former self, especially after his previous film The Dying of the Light ended up being the garbage that it was.Obviously not one to retire wondering, Schrader however has once more teamed up with his Dying of the Light leading man Nicolas Cage and recruited Willem Dafoe along for the ride with his bizarre yet somehow forgettable adaptation of Edward Bunker's book, Dog Eat Dog.Starting out in a fashion that will likely have many brows raised and jaws hanging open, Dog Eat Dog is a real oddball type of a film with sprinklings of outlandish and over the top violence, reprehensible characters and a few select zingers that showcase Schrader still does have power with words when he sets his mind to it.Set around a recently released trio criminals who answer to Nicolas Cage's slightly more intellectual Troy, this group which includes Dafoe's drug addled Mad Dog and Christopher Cook's heavy hitting lug Diesel find themselves over petty crime and looking to score big which ends up with a scenario where Paul Schrader's (please let us never see him act on screen again) Greek offers them a job of babynapping to make a big score.It seems as though Cage loves a good babynapping (reliving his Raising Arizona days) but Dog Eat Dog doesn't ever really seem comfortable in what it is.
Some form of Americanised version of a UK classic like Snatch or a poor man's Quentin Tarantino crime yarn, I'm not quite sure and while Dog Eat Dog has a few moments of genuine shock (an attack on a police women springs to mind and will likely be remembered along the same lines as Cage's famous "punching" scene in the Wicker Man remake) and a Willem Dafoe turn that deserved a much better movie, Schrader still seems to be shooting blanks in the story telling department where he used to be shooting heavy hitting bullets.There may just be a life for Dog Eat Dog in the cult movie dominion and midnight screening madness and while this is a step up from the dire Dying of the Light, Dog Eat Dog is by no means the work we know Schrader is capable of delivering; at least once upon a time long ago.2 jackets out of 5.
i just really wish the dog ate the script so people never see this movie Nicholas Cage doesn't know what is good movie or does he read the script Nicholas cage now days with low budget movies are now full of crap this movie ate a lot of crap i don't really blame Nicholas cage but its more of writers and directors fault Nicholas Cage i understand here he is doing movies for paycheck he doesn't give a dam about his movies no more or his fans i love the violence i loved gore i got instead of movie because its Nicholas cage ghost rider meets William Dafore Green goblin i loved the way it was some of scenes and title is pretty cool name dog eat dog as in gangster style of movie you think its goes same way as it is but its not because it became more of time waster it became more of movie you gonna hate and it's going to waste your time so badly its like film director watched sin city in strip club scene, where its all black and white i am like is film director is trying make his own movie like sin city and saying its rubbish movie i want write something better but no this movie has done noting better Nicholas cage character is Irish guy who can't do a Irish accent my ears bleed with his Accent.
the matter fact it's not the way how it turns out to be the way it is the all entire all movie is William dafore is gone crazy and been a drug attract killing people what ever there is some lines that were funny a bit not really that funny but the film is not really worth of your time its big waste who gives a dam if movie got 5 stars or 4 its still worst piece of crap movie there's really noting to it to movie its them trying to clear everything because they were not meant to kill owner that needed to earn money to their boss but then Mad Dog kills him so now no money because they still toke the baby but they toke it to someone for ransom but then they all broke don't know what to do and cops are after them because over what they did.
I'd read the gritty crime novel this film was based on, written by Edward Bunker, a real-life career criminal turned author and script doctor, and was expecting a grim unsettling movie along the line's of director Paul Schrader's "Hardcore." The novel was a realistic story of street level criminals who'd rather get killed than go back to prison.
The film adaptation has the same basic plot with Nicolas Cage as Troy and the great Willem Dafoe as the unpredictable and unhinged Mad Dog, as well as Christopher Matthew Cook as Diesel.
Compared to other Nicolas Cage recent films around the same time such as the Runner, Dog Eat Dog isn't too bad.
Dog Eat Dog, its a film about sleazy characters that are trying to get a better life, since the criminal life's they have aren't working out for them, the film never stops being entertaining, its definitely a good film, but many aspects kept it from being really good.The main three actors in the film are great, Nicolas Cage plays a crook who is a film buff, who imagines himself in a Noir film, narrating his internal thoughts in black and white, Willem Dafoe, plays a crazy and irredeemable criminal, who seeks for a better life, but cant get one.
Christopher Matthew Cook plays a smart and strong crook who seems to be the most normal out of the three but sometimes he could let his temper get to him, these three characters are not redeemable, they are not good people, they are awful people, something many viewers may find to be a negative.The film starts with a great opening scene, but it isn't consistently good, sometimes it gets a bit sloppy, but even at that it is still entertaining, the story isn't anything new, but it makes it decent enough, its ending may leave you with a bad taste but I think its OK.The films its about thee three characters who are stuck with their lives and cant grow out of them, the film itself doesn't go anywhere because its characters cant go anywhere.Paul Schrader is a really good director, this definitely isn't his best film, but its a very decent one, despite what critics may be telling you, it may be a bit too sleazy for its own good, but its very compelling..
This is an indie production with a few big names but not a real good story.The actors play their roles well and it's also shot in an acceptable way but I was missing something of a point in this movie.Dafoe plays the very evil baddie and it seems like they wrote half of Cage life in this with all the Elvis,Humphrey Bogart and 50's references thru out.
I think that even at the end of the movie he does a sort of Bogart impression and I could not tell if that was serious or not.Some of the scenes were nice on their own but as a whole the movie lacks substance and therefor falls flat.It's really a one time watch movie more so if you like Willem Dafoe or Nicolas Cage.
Willem Dafoe, on the other hand, pushed himself and perfectly performed a semi- crazy, violent and confused character.Maybe Dog Eat Dog is not deep enough and the story it too simple but it has a message and I think this movie will find its audience..
When a movie by Paul Schrader comes out, you know it will entertain and be good......so what happened to Dog Eat Dog?