The Dogs of War

There was nothing that great about this movie, and a few things that were rather annoying. It just kind of rolled along with a lot of little peaks of excitement but nothing that incredible. By the time the end sequence came around I was rather bored, and the ending, although good, couldn't make up for the earlier scenes.

The "dogs of war" (this phrase takes its literary origins from William Shakespeare) is an exciting as well as interesting action/war film . It concerns a military coup in an African country and stars Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger , though he has said in interviews that around half of his role was omitted from the final release print . It deals with mercenary James Shannon (Christopher Walken) , on a reconnaissance job to the African nation of Zangaro, is tortured and deported . He returns to lead a coup and tangles with an Idi Amin-alike dictator. As various soldiers of fortune (Tom Berenger , Paul Freeman , among others) , used to be the best of friends give a toast : ¨Long live death, long live war, long live the cursed mercenary" (this is an adaptation of the original Foreign legion toast) and all of them battle side by side in hellhole Africa . This war film packs adventures , large-scale blow-up , thrilling plot , and lots of action for the most part , but also contains too much dialogue . It's a good mix of action-packed , adventure , thriller and warfare genre . Overly somber rendition based on Frederick Forsyth's novel , in fact , while researching the novel in the early 1970s, author pretended he was actually financing a coup d'etat in Equatorial Guinea , the pretense allowed Forsyth access to a number of underworld figures, including mercenaries and arms dealers ; Forsyth has since commented that the arms dealers were the most frightening people he has ever met . Frederick is a famous author best-sellers whose novels have been successfully adapted to cinema and TV such as ¨The day of Jackal¨, ¨Odessa¨ and ¨The fourth protocol¨ . Fine support cast who realize professionally competent interpretations , some of them with no more than a line or two to say such as Colin Blakely , Paul Freeman , and brief interventions from JoBeth Williams , Robert Urquhart , Ed O'Neill , Jim Broadbent , Jean Pierre Kalfon , Victoria Tennant , Pedro Armendariz Jr and first cinema film of David Schofield. Good cinematography by Jack Cardiff , who also shot a movie about mercenaries in Africa titled ¨The mercenaries¨, it was filmed on location , as African and Central America sequences were filmed in Belize City, Belize in Central America . The motion picture was well directed by John Irvin , though it was originally going to be directed by Norman Jewison. John had previously filmed amidst real life battles when he worked in a television news crew in Vietnam during the 1960s. Irvin once said: "Unlike most young film directors, I've been in battle. Throughout the sixties I went to various war zones and I met numerous mercenaries in Algeria and South East Asia, so I had my own personal strings to draw on. I would say our depiction of mercenaries is pretty accurate. We talked to a lot of mercenaries and were able to get a lot of information from them about how they would have handled the operation". As the movie's major battle sequence was directed by director John Irvin and not the Second Unit Director . Rating : Nice picture , better than average . Worthwhile watching .

In this movie, the national airline in Zingaro has a great airplane, a two-engined Convair from the 1950s. They don't make 'em anymore. I mean the airplane, not the movie. They make movies like this all the time. A mega corporation wants the mineral rights in an African country ruled by a ruthless dictator. So the corporation organizes a private army to invade the nation, kill the dictator, and install a business-friendly dictator in his place. (Is that far fetched, or what?) Christopher Walken is hired to organize the mercenary army. They do their job, except that, at the end, in an ironic coda, they substitute a more independent president who will now rule his country with compassion. The film could have been written by a committee of MBAs who have figured out what the bottom line is. Whatever the bottom line turned out to be it was surely preceded by a dollar sign. The plot goes kind of in this order: intrigue, a little teaser of violence, more intrigue, a little completely irrelevant sex, more intrigue, the introduction to a couple of particularly lethal and ugly guns, and a violent shoot out full of explosions. The climactic violence assumes the familiar form of a handful of courageous and supremely skilled military types attacking a garrison of disorganized native troops. (Cf., "Predator," inter alia.) One of the mercenaries is killed through an excess of pity. The number of dead garrison troops is uncountable. Walken himself cold-bloodedly and deliberately shoots two unarmed men. It's a happy ending though because the guy who finally sits on the throne is a doctor and an idealist, and we are compelled to hope he remains that way instead of discovering that, hey, it's good to be the king. I haven't read Frederick Forsyth's novel on which this movie is based but I can't believe it's the sloppy lash up job that the movie is. Forsyth's details are usually exquisite. When you finish one of his novels you're likely to know how to rig up a bomb that will explode only when the car hits a bump. That was the beauty of Fred Zinneman's "The Day of the Jackal." How to commit identity theft, for instance. Here, all of that tedious business is skipped over. Walken is able to board a freighter posing as a seaman. Where did he get his credentials? Who knows. The producers don't care and we're not supposed to care either. We never heard of forged passports. Just before the invasion, the mercenaries are together going over the attack plan one last time and when they are done, Walkin raises his fist and shouts the name of the dictator they are about to murder and the other soldiers echo his gesture. And, mind you, these are supposed to be heroes, and we are expected to identify with them. Why don't they raise their fists and cry, "Money!" Not that pelf is the primary motive. What kind of person is willing to kill strangers and risk his own life for money? How do you murder someone whom you don't know and against whom you have nothing? And how do you think of yourself as a better man for having done it? Are there many of them around? I mean in the private sector? There must be some. There is Executive Outcomes, and there is at least enough of an audience of fantasists to support a magazine designed for mercenaries, "Soldier of Fortune." Of course we all seek self satisfaction through doing something that we know we can do well. The Germans called it Funktionslust. It may be innate in higher organisms. But this goes way past self satisfaction. Dignity elevated beyond pride into grandiosity.

I tried to read The Dogs of War when I was in high school in the mid 70's and got bored; yes, I had the attention span of a gnat and Forsyth's novel was both dry and clinical in its careful examination of the platinum-driven purchase of an African nation. I saw the movie on cable in the early 80's and, thanks to its prudent editing of what I perceived as the book's excesses, I gave Forsyth's story my own inconsequential (in the grand scheme of things) stamp of approval. I finally read the book in 2000; somewhere along the way I picked up a used full-length attention span! I've seen TDOW about five times (the last was yesterday; Superbowls generally bore me worse than dry, clinical novels) and I have to say that this is a rarity, a movie better than the book. Whether it was Christopher Walken's jerky, paranoid performance, the superbly shown squalor of the capitol of the country about to be taken, or the pathetic, teary fear in President Kimba's eyes, I was both hooked and pleased by the film version. The Dogs of War isn't a great film or a well-known one, but it was both entertaining and diverting. All a viewer needs on Superbowl Sunday!

Sent to checkout the political situation in the Africian nation of Zangaro, Shannon (Christopher Walken in a solid performance), a tireless and money-hungry American mercenary, get caught spying by the president's secret police and nearly beaten to death before sent back to the States. Determined to strike back, Walken urges a few of his friends (Tom Berenger and Ed O'Neill being a few of them) to join in the mission and get the necessary weapons. Director John Irvin ("Hamburger Hill", "When Trumpets Fade") plays his cards right in saving the best stuff, which is the raid and how the scenery is displayed by veteran cinematographer Jack Cardiff is also great. The film was based on a novel by Frederick Forstyh ("The Day of the Jackal").

The best of the "hired killers takes out a bassackwards third world African nation in ten minutes or less" genre. Christopher Walken fans will love this one as he occupies the camera for about 98% of the film and does an admirable job playing ringleader to a small band of mercenaries hired by London's Enron branch to take down some dude with a Gucci sword named Kimba, the benevolent ruler of Okka Bokka Boo. The pace is a little slow for my tastes but they threw in my favorite girl next door, JoBeth Williams, as Walkens ex-wife just to keep me occupied while the guns were being shipped in from Switzerland or somewhere. All I can tell you is the climax is worth waiting for. It's outstanding actually. The DVD is a little disappointing. 2ch sound and no widescreen. See if you can spot Ed O'Neill from Married With Children fame. 7 hand grenades/10

The great thing about reading a Fredirick Forsyth novel is that you're educated while being entertained . He gives you facts and details on everything from modern jet fighters to Ukrainian history . The problem with this though is that the info tend to hold up the narrative which makes a Forsyth novel difficult to successfully translate to screen and to be honest the original THE DOGS OF WAR novel isn't really a book that will appeal to a cinema goer who's into no brain action shoot them ups . I can forgive this since I know what to expect from a Forsyth story but would Mr action fan ? I can just imagine a disappointed Arnie/Bruce/Sly fan slagging the movie off for having only two battle scenes , one at the start of the movie and one at the end , so let me point out that if you're expecting to see DIE HARD IN AFRICA it's maybe not you're kind of movie If there's a problem with the movie it's mainly down to the structure of the novel with much of the running time taken up with planning the coup , getting the equipment , hiring the boat etc . I also noticed the dialogue was a bit iffy " Which one of your men do I kill to make way for mine ? " . Things like structure and dialogue don't matter too much on the written page but tend to leap out at you on the silver screen , but as many of the commentators on this page have pointed out it's an action film/political thriller with a brain . It's perhaps not as enjoyable as say THE DARK OF THE SUN or THE WILD GEESE but there's certainly entertainment to be had trying to spot the actor before they were a well known face

Recap: Jamie Shannon, a mercenary, is hired by a company to go on a information gathering mission to Zangora, an African country ruled by a unstable dictator. The company is uneasy to invest in country where the situation is not under control. So, posing as a bird photographer, he goes to Zangora to collect as much information as he can. But it soon end with him being arrested, beaten to pieces and deported. The company is unhappy about the whole Zangora situation though and hires Shannon to make a coup. Shannon puts his team together. but it is not easy to plan a military operation without alerting the authorities, especially when your employer don't trust you. Comments: First of all, I have not read the novel, I just rented the movie expecting a good action filled war movie, as suggested by the poster for example. I was disappointed. The movie contains precious little war and almost less action. I can believe that the whole part when Shannon assembles his team works well in a book, when you can elaborate and create some suspense. In a movie, like this, when you have to cut it down to a few loosely connected scenes, all suspense is lost and all we have is a long dull waiting before the action finally begins. And when the coup starts it is a quick and easy one. Some of the potential personal vendettas that were established during his first visit is cut to a minimum, and the entire coup is without any trace of suspense. And the action was rather bad too. 3/10

I liked it because it really showed the process of setting up this kind of operation. Usually movies just start and then jump to the action. This showed all the planning and what can go wrong. They make a big deal about the "end user certificate". This is used to show the government where weapons are going to end up. This can be avoided by getting a certificate showing the weapons are going to one place and then the weapons are diverted to another location. I loved the ending. The scene where Shannon and men are in the open shooting was something not done in real life but its point was, these men were in the glory. This is what they live for. They hate every day life. Tom Berrenger said his wife was pregnant and the thought of watching her just "get fat" was making him sick. This was the high point of their lives. It seemed for most of the men this was their last mission. Most people don't understand the mentality. These men know they will die sometime but want to go out in a "Blase of Glory"

This movie is the most realistic treatment I've seen of what real mercenary operations and business travels are like. Any who have traveled to third world hell holes like "Zangaro" feel as though they must have had a camera following them around to get the background for this movie, the airport arrival, the hotel holding passports, the "tour guide" and the bar toast are as realistic as you can get. If you like movies that show the real nitty gritty, the backdoor politics, the backstabbing and intrigue that is international diplomacy catch this one the next time it's on cable.