Alpha Dog (2006)
Alpha Dog is a movie that was so effective, it’ll stay with me the rest of my life. When I rented it a couple of years ago, all I knew was that Justin Timberlake was in it and the promotional poster looked like it was about a bunch of rowdy teenagers. Some of you might already know what it’s about, so you can imagine how shocked I was when the plot unfolded.
Filmed as part-drama, part-mockumentary, it chronicles an extremely upsetting true story involving, well, rowdy teenagers. All the names were changed, so even though filmmaker Nick Cassavetes takes the movie extremely seriously, I didn’t really know it was a true story until I learned more information online. Had I learned anything about this movie, or even watched the preview beforehand, I probably wouldn’t have watched it. The only reason I didn’t turn it off was because I didn’t know it was a true story and didn’t know how it was going to end. Nick Cassavetes mastered the art of suspense and created an extremely eerie feeling throughout the film so that even ridiculously ignorant audience members, such as myself, could sense something really bad might happen. The tension grows and the pace speeds up, mirroring the characters’ thought processes as events spiral out of control and they feel they have no options, even though the audience can clearly see that they do. As upsetting as this was to watch, I can recognize that it was very well crafted.
Emile Hirsch stars as the leader of his drug-using group of friends. He regularly deals them drugs and sometimes they get into debt paying him back. One indebted friend, Ben Foster, has a violent temper, and Emile comes up with a way to get Ben to pay him what he owes: kidnap his younger brother and hold him hostage. I won’t tell you anymore of the plot, because chances are you remember this story. In case you don’t know, you’re better off not knowing and not watching the movie.
Yes, the film itself is well-done, and yes, the acting is extremely good, but I still wish I’d never seen this movie. Interspersed throughout the movie are faux interviews with Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone, the parents of the involved children. Both give very realistic performances, and Sharon have a couple of scenes that are truly heartbreaking. Ben Foster is very frightening, and it’s no wonder he’s been typecast as a villain in later movies. Anton Yelchin, only seventeen years old, gives a particularly impressive performance as an innocent kid who has no idea what’s about to happen. Balancing an innocent delivery is tricky, especially since the actor knows what’s coming, and Anton’s fresh without being obvious—quite a feat to master take after take in front of the camera.
Bottom line: I don’t really know why this movie was made. It’s terrible enough that it happened in real life. Turning it into a motion picture, even though it’s meant to be horrifying, is in a way a glorification. I wish it hadn’t been glorified, and I wish I hadn’t watched it. It took me over a month to shake off my heavy heart afterwards. To my fellow faint of heart, don’t rent this movie. Check out the preview—which I’ve only just watched—and you probably won’t even make it all the way through the three minutes. Please girls, don’t make the same mistake I did by thinking it was a harmless Justin Timberlake movie.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence and upsetting scenes involving a children, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Bruce Willis movies here!
Filmed as part-drama, part-mockumentary, it chronicles an extremely upsetting true story involving, well, rowdy teenagers. All the names were changed, so even though filmmaker Nick Cassavetes takes the movie extremely seriously, I didn’t really know it was a true story until I learned more information online. Had I learned anything about this movie, or even watched the preview beforehand, I probably wouldn’t have watched it. The only reason I didn’t turn it off was because I didn’t know it was a true story and didn’t know how it was going to end. Nick Cassavetes mastered the art of suspense and created an extremely eerie feeling throughout the film so that even ridiculously ignorant audience members, such as myself, could sense something really bad might happen. The tension grows and the pace speeds up, mirroring the characters’ thought processes as events spiral out of control and they feel they have no options, even though the audience can clearly see that they do. As upsetting as this was to watch, I can recognize that it was very well crafted.
Emile Hirsch stars as the leader of his drug-using group of friends. He regularly deals them drugs and sometimes they get into debt paying him back. One indebted friend, Ben Foster, has a violent temper, and Emile comes up with a way to get Ben to pay him what he owes: kidnap his younger brother and hold him hostage. I won’t tell you anymore of the plot, because chances are you remember this story. In case you don’t know, you’re better off not knowing and not watching the movie.
Yes, the film itself is well-done, and yes, the acting is extremely good, but I still wish I’d never seen this movie. Interspersed throughout the movie are faux interviews with Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone, the parents of the involved children. Both give very realistic performances, and Sharon have a couple of scenes that are truly heartbreaking. Ben Foster is very frightening, and it’s no wonder he’s been typecast as a villain in later movies. Anton Yelchin, only seventeen years old, gives a particularly impressive performance as an innocent kid who has no idea what’s about to happen. Balancing an innocent delivery is tricky, especially since the actor knows what’s coming, and Anton’s fresh without being obvious—quite a feat to master take after take in front of the camera.
Bottom line: I don’t really know why this movie was made. It’s terrible enough that it happened in real life. Turning it into a motion picture, even though it’s meant to be horrifying, is in a way a glorification. I wish it hadn’t been glorified, and I wish I hadn’t watched it. It took me over a month to shake off my heavy heart afterwards. To my fellow faint of heart, don’t rent this movie. Check out the preview—which I’ve only just watched—and you probably won’t even make it all the way through the three minutes. Please girls, don’t make the same mistake I did by thinking it was a harmless Justin Timberlake movie.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence and upsetting scenes involving a children, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Bruce Willis movies here!