Note: This is more of a semi-review, so if you're still looking forward to seeing the movie, you might not want to read this. However if you wish to avoid a frustrating experience, then read on.
Dog Bite Dog is a refreshing change in Hong Kong cinema. As the starting credits came on, I noticed that the movie was produced by a Japanese producer, and directed by Soi Cheaung whom I'm not familiar with. This was enough foreshadowing for me to be prepared for something different from your regular mainstream Hong Kong flick. But I was not prepared for over an hour and a half of disbelief.
The movie starts out quite well, with maturing star Edison Chen playing the role of an assassin with the instincts of a killer canine. Gone are the days of the street kid rapper-wannabe, Edison has really come a long way and he plays a role similar to that of Jet Li in Danny the Dog (aka Unleashed). I like Edison, but personal preference could not save the unrealistic scenes in Dog Bite Dog. The storyline is decent, Sam Lee's character has a complex background that I won't spoil, and he's a "bad cop" which most of us would probably enjoy. But for some reason, Edison's character Pang is some kind of super human, he is just invincible to the point where you start to laugh in amusement. In the first encounter with the cops, Pang kills at least two innocent citizens before taking another hostage, while the cops panic and put down their guns. Obviously, Pang manages to escape, but not without killing a cop in the process, and the hostage as well. At this point you'd want to prepare yourself because this is going to happen very often. I think perhaps the director is trying to show the compassionate side of man, as the cops are constantly trying to stop Sam from being too brutal and sympathize for the hostages. This kind of attitude always gets themselves killed however.
I didn't take a body count, but Pang must have killed over 50 people in the end. Basically when he needs a car, he goes in, kills the driver and takes the car. In one scene, he enters a fishing boat at night and kills an elderly couple just for fun, and leaves. Yes, director, I understand that he has no feelings. But what I don't understand is why the need to make a complete MOCKERY of the Hong Kong Police Force? In one shootout scene near the end, one of the cops finally snap and take the girl as hostage (Pang's girlfriend apparently) in order to get Pang to release his hostage, a cop. The superior officer tells the snapped cop to release the girl, but then suddenly Pang shoots the cop holding the girl right on the head. He then obviously kills his own hostage, and runs, while the cops stand in disbelief, and me staring in disbelief. Sorry guys, but if this was in America, Pang would probably have like 20 bullets in his body, hostage or not, and I refuse to believe Hong Kong police are stupid enough to stand and watch. When one citizen is killed, it gets blown to ridiculous proportions by the media, one death is a serious thing in HK. There is NO WAY they would deal with a mass murderer like this. There were so many times I was just laughing and shaking my head in sadness, and I found myself fast forwarding the "compassionate" moments of Pang because, I just could not relate with a mass killer no matter what excuse he has, or how he was brought up to be the way he is. In our society, killing people at will is simply unacceptable, no matter if it's your fault or not. Another strange concept was that all the cops, who are supposed to be I'm assuming either Homicide cops or CID, why are they all armed with six shooters? Even regular street uniformed cops are now switching to Glocks, I have no idea why the director and/or producer needed to "dumb down" the cops in order to make their point. The final half hour of the movie was so laughably pathetic, that I found myself telling the story ahead of the movie itself. The girl, whom I never got to know her name because she seems to have a kind of speech impediment, is newcomer Weiying Pei, 18 years of age from Mainland China and she gives a fantastic performance, as well as being naturally beautiful. But what I can't stand about her is the way her presence dumbs down the cops. I can understand them not paying too much attention to a weak and injured girl, but this girl has bashed Sam on the head before, it's obvious she's "with" the criminal. How she is so constantly ignored and underestimated is simply pathetic, predictable, and an insult to the viewers' intelligence.
This movie would probably appeal to those who are a bored closet psycho who has dreamed of murdering people for fun after playing too many video games, or if you're simply too tired of the clichéd Hollywood movies. Or if you have a beef with the HKPF and would enjoy watching cops getting owned. It was refreshing, but I can't say I enjoyed it.
Dog Bite Dog is a refreshing change in Hong Kong cinema. As the starting credits came on, I noticed that the movie was produced by a Japanese producer, and directed by Soi Cheaung whom I'm not familiar with. This was enough foreshadowing for me to be prepared for something different from your regular mainstream Hong Kong flick. But I was not prepared for over an hour and a half of disbelief.
The movie starts out quite well, with maturing star Edison Chen playing the role of an assassin with the instincts of a killer canine. Gone are the days of the street kid rapper-wannabe, Edison has really come a long way and he plays a role similar to that of Jet Li in Danny the Dog (aka Unleashed). I like Edison, but personal preference could not save the unrealistic scenes in Dog Bite Dog. The storyline is decent, Sam Lee's character has a complex background that I won't spoil, and he's a "bad cop" which most of us would probably enjoy. But for some reason, Edison's character Pang is some kind of super human, he is just invincible to the point where you start to laugh in amusement. In the first encounter with the cops, Pang kills at least two innocent citizens before taking another hostage, while the cops panic and put down their guns. Obviously, Pang manages to escape, but not without killing a cop in the process, and the hostage as well. At this point you'd want to prepare yourself because this is going to happen very often. I think perhaps the director is trying to show the compassionate side of man, as the cops are constantly trying to stop Sam from being too brutal and sympathize for the hostages. This kind of attitude always gets themselves killed however.
I didn't take a body count, but Pang must have killed over 50 people in the end. Basically when he needs a car, he goes in, kills the driver and takes the car. In one scene, he enters a fishing boat at night and kills an elderly couple just for fun, and leaves. Yes, director, I understand that he has no feelings. But what I don't understand is why the need to make a complete MOCKERY of the Hong Kong Police Force? In one shootout scene near the end, one of the cops finally snap and take the girl as hostage (Pang's girlfriend apparently) in order to get Pang to release his hostage, a cop. The superior officer tells the snapped cop to release the girl, but then suddenly Pang shoots the cop holding the girl right on the head. He then obviously kills his own hostage, and runs, while the cops stand in disbelief, and me staring in disbelief. Sorry guys, but if this was in America, Pang would probably have like 20 bullets in his body, hostage or not, and I refuse to believe Hong Kong police are stupid enough to stand and watch. When one citizen is killed, it gets blown to ridiculous proportions by the media, one death is a serious thing in HK. There is NO WAY they would deal with a mass murderer like this. There were so many times I was just laughing and shaking my head in sadness, and I found myself fast forwarding the "compassionate" moments of Pang because, I just could not relate with a mass killer no matter what excuse he has, or how he was brought up to be the way he is. In our society, killing people at will is simply unacceptable, no matter if it's your fault or not. Another strange concept was that all the cops, who are supposed to be I'm assuming either Homicide cops or CID, why are they all armed with six shooters? Even regular street uniformed cops are now switching to Glocks, I have no idea why the director and/or producer needed to "dumb down" the cops in order to make their point. The final half hour of the movie was so laughably pathetic, that I found myself telling the story ahead of the movie itself. The girl, whom I never got to know her name because she seems to have a kind of speech impediment, is newcomer Weiying Pei, 18 years of age from Mainland China and she gives a fantastic performance, as well as being naturally beautiful. But what I can't stand about her is the way her presence dumbs down the cops. I can understand them not paying too much attention to a weak and injured girl, but this girl has bashed Sam on the head before, it's obvious she's "with" the criminal. How she is so constantly ignored and underestimated is simply pathetic, predictable, and an insult to the viewers' intelligence.
This movie would probably appeal to those who are a bored closet psycho who has dreamed of murdering people for fun after playing too many video games, or if you're simply too tired of the clichéd Hollywood movies. Or if you have a beef with the HKPF and would enjoy watching cops getting owned. It was refreshing, but I can't say I enjoyed it.