Battledogs

source: Battledogs

I actually couldn't finish the movie because the CGI werewolves were way worse than the one from American Werewolf in Paris. It's bordering on cartoonish or a parody. Couldn't take the movie seriously. I'll never understand how people think they can have a werewolf movie with a horrible werewolf or in some cases no werewolf at all. I was surprised at how bad the quality was because the cast was impressive.

BATTLEDOGS is another B-movie from The Asylum, but for a change it's not a rip-off of a Hollywood blockbuster, at least not that I can think of. Instead it's a typical sci-fi/action/horror cross-breed, with a breed of genetic werewolves erupting across a city during a zombie-like outbreak. What plays out is intensely predictable and altogether cheesy, with actors delivering their lines with maximum gravitas which ends up being somewhat ruined by the inclusion of cartoonish CGI to depict the wolves. Where this does get interesting is in the excellent casting; aside from the wooden leads like Craig Sheffer, we get Ariana Richards (of TREMORS and JURASSIC PARK fame) alongside Wes Studi, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Duke.

This somewhat original werewolf flick by The Asylum is more fun than it deserves to be, thanks to a its cool premise, some neato plot elements by scriptwriter Shane Van Dyke, some attractive location shooting, and the surprising and welcome presence of Ariana Richards, who's grown as hot as you might have expected since she uttered her infamous "It's a Unix system! I know this!" as a teen in "Jurassic Park." It is, however, nearly undone by ridiculous-looking CGI werewolves, a script devoid of humor, and a couple of "Wait… What?" turns that all remind you you're watching a film from The Asylum. Richards plays a wildlife photographer bitten by a wolf in Canada who arrives in New York's JFK Airport, where she promptly turns into a werewolf and goes on a killing rampage, turning more people into werewolves. Without explanation, we learn the government has immediately decided to train werewolves as soldiers. That revelation provides the film's only laugh-out-loud moment, albeit unintentional, when one character asks what any sane viewer would at that point: Wouldn't that just serve to turn the enemy soldiers into werewolves, too? And then, you know, the world? Nice of the film to take its biggest gaping plot hole and just lay it bare for the viewer. That said, direction by Alexander Yellen is surprisingly tight and solid for a first-timer; and the Buffalo, N.Y., backdrop is a suitable stand-in for New York City. I especially enjoyed the abandoned train station that resembled Grand Central Terminal, which served as an Ellis Island of sorts for recently bitten werewolves. But when your werewolves look like 3D versions of various cartoon "Big Bad Wolf" characters, you have to admit your audience isn't going to take your movie seriously. Therefore, you as a filmmaker shouldn't either. And that's the major flaw in almost every film by this company – they play it straight. A little self-referential humor (I would have LOVED to see Richards save the day with a Unix system again. Just sayin') would have made "Battle Dogs" a classic. As it stands now, it's a decent rental at the Redbox, but worth little more than that.

I can forgive the ridiculous plot and low budget. And as a career Army guy, I have learned to be tolerant of so many mistakes in portraying the military. But wow, why make them look like such slobs? Unshaven, pants untucked, etc sheesh! Even the guy playing the President (Bill Duke) wears an ill-fitting suit. He also looks too creepy for the role, hunched over and mumbling. And one thing that really doesn't make sense - why would there be only one doctor working on this problem if it's a worldwide threat?

So, the beginning like.... 5 minutes are all well and good. Suppose it was beneficial to the horrible plot to have the werewolves introduced at the start. This was horribly paced, had literally no logic of any kind in play, practically every poorly acted character was an actual moron, the casting choices are mid-key racist, the plot is all over the place with no cohesion beyond "let's prevent a cure from being made so we can have something even deadlier to kill other people with," and every single bit of CGI looked like it was probably done during 2000. Let's just helicopter drop a werewolf into the airport to assassinate some dude you can literally just hold at gunpoint when he gets back and lock in a room or something. And Hoffman doesn't suspect treachery?!?! The evil brown army dudes are portrayed with absolutely 0 sense of morality and their motivations are 1 dimensional and unrealistic. Also, 'How to Train Your Werewolf,' anyone? You don't even need to get halfway through this movie to spot the bad acting, the flat characters, the blockhead story and just how generally ugly the whole movie is visually. There is honestly no excuse for such poor CGI in 2013. SPEAKING OF 2013, HOLOGRAMS??? Dumb as hell. Don't even bother. Not scary, not interesting, not entertaining. Just stupid stacked on top of stupid and I could've spent the time doing something productive.

But, in this case, it's Dennis Haysbert (currently a.k.a. "the All-State Man") who takes the Donald Sutherland role of a black-ops martinet obsessed with giving Uncle Sam world-wide military supremacy with a unique bio-warfare weapon. And, he does it so convincingly, it's frightening! Unfortunately, that's about _all_ that was frightening. And, the only plot element I would describe as "unpredictable" was Craig Sheffer winding up with Kate Vernon rather than Ariana Richards. Say what?! If they were going to twist the plot like that, at all, the least the writers could have done is have the movie end with Sheffer getting _both_ women! In short? I give this...five stars.

It is always a nice treat to witness when The Asylum manages to spew out a movie that excels compared to the rest of their movies. Every now and then The Asylum manages to put out a movie that is actually above the usual cheesy and campy stuff they dabble in. "Battledogs", aside from the horrible title, was actually a nice movie. It was a different take on the werewolf myth and genre, and a rather bold take. But it ultimately worked out well enough. Mind you, I am not saying that "Battledogs" is ready to challenge the leading werewolf movies, but for a movie from The Asylum, then it is well worth checking out. The story is about a mutated strain of lycanthropy running rampart in Manhattan. The military contains the outbreak, but want to utilize this newfound potential source of power and turn it into a weapon - of course. And they will stop at nothing in order to succeed. But when things get out of hand, the military are forced to take to drastic measures. Storywise, then "Battledogs" was alright. It wasn't the best of stories, and it was predictable, yes, but still it was a step up compared to many other movies from The Asylum. The story is fast paced and full of action and even an occasional thrill here and there. As for the acting, then they did have some good names on the cast list, and people did good with the characters and roles they were given. Sure, many of these characters were generic and stereotypical, but the actors and actresses still manage to get something watchable out of that. Which leads me to the CGI. The werewolves did look good, although at times the CGI animation was wooden and stiff, but still, the effects worked to the extend that they were meant to. Just don't get your hopes up for being blown away by a multi-million dollar CGI extravaganza. If you enjoy werewolf movies, and don't mind movies that range in the lower scale of the budget, then definitely check out "Battledogs" - don't mind the awful movie title.

After being bitten by a wolf and given a curse that will turn her into a ravenous werewolf, a woman sides with a sympathetic Army major and a scientist friend to find a cure for the disease before a rogue general uses the creatures as a weapon for the US military. This was a pretty surprising entry that had some pretty enjoyable aspects to it that makes it far better than expected. One of the best elements here is the film's use of real animatronics and puppets for the werewolves that lend the creatures a sense of realism that far off-sets the utterly atrocious CGI which also pops up, but the fact that a lot of it is with the on-set effects makes it more enjoyable. The relentless action allows for plenty of high-energy scenes, including the creatures running loose in a crowded airport with the turned victims rising up as new werewolves to join in the fray as well as a big battle with the military on the streets of New York that has a lot to like. Throw that in with some nice gore and a pretty involving storyline that never really gets convoluted, it's got a lot to like that really makes up for the film's few flaws in it's CGI and pretty bland beginning that never fits in with the rest of the action, causing it to take a while to get going. Otherwise, this was quite fun. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

SyFy have a notoriously bad reputation, though there are some tolerable movies of theirs out there even if they are too far and between. Battledogs was a movie that I wasn't sure what to make of, it wasn't a particularly good one but neither was it a disaster. I am in complete agreement with the acting being the best asset, the cast were a good one to begin with and they all give fun performances, especially Ernie Hudson. Battledogs is a better-looking movie than most SyFy movies, true the CGI is not particularly great(not really much of a surprise though) but the dogs/werewolves were fairly convincing, the scenery is good and the editing is not too choppy. The music and sound mayn't win any awards as such, but they are atmospheric and sharp enough and serve their purpose well. The car wreck scene was quite an exciting set piece, and the gore isn't too shabby either. Battledogs is not without its flaws though. There is some nice tongue and cheek humour in the script, but too much of the dialogue is cheesy, unnaturally flowed and not always fitting in certain scenes. There is also a rather make-it-up-as-you-go-along feel. The story is a mixed bag. The good news is, it didn't bore me particularly and the nods to King Kong, Free Willy and Day of the Dead original were nice; the bad news is, nothing comes out as original and the mix of sci-fi and horror is confused. Maybe it would help if those two elements individually worked, sadly they don't; it is not thrilling enough to be good sci-fi and it's not scary enough to be good horror either. And it is largely to do with the overall quality of the CGI, the poor suspense and how tame and uninventive the attacks seemed to be. I'd forgive the fact that the characters are overused stereotypes if anything interesting was done with them, but despite the efforts of the actors the characters never were developed or likable enough. And how inaccurately and poorly the military are portrayed is likely to get people even more infuriated, especially if they're part of the military themselves. In conclusion, not terrible or great. 5/10 Bethany Cox