Benedito Dias Rodrigues After get respect from Deer Hunter Waken surfing in new project as mercenary leader on a Forsyth's novel adaptation,however the picture take a ride from Wild Geese's formula,it's measure how is short the vision of those producers in that time,even so could be better in little details which they didn't noticed,but a sharp eye realize,souless the movie ain't certanly,have good fresh moments.a few actually,but as entertainment works spent along the picture,some clichés were unnecessary as is former wife Jobeth Williams,but it's a old formula,the action is good,and the final is very predicable!!!Resume:First watch: 1999 / How many: 2 / Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 7

pyrocitor The Dogs of War is a familiar but rock-solid early take on the international mercenary-led political coup before it became bastardized by a generation of pulpier Rambo knock-offs (including Christopher Walken's own McBain in 1991). Based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth, veteran of '70s spy-thriller The Day of the Jackal, there's more than a whiff of John le Carré here in regards to tone and pacing, and it's a worthy comparison. Debut director John Irvin keeps politics and social commentary a priority, while the poster fodder, blockbuster-y action is still thrilling, but a more grounded, associative afterthought. It's a fairly simple, firmly three-act affair, as Walken's steely mercenary Jamie Shannon leads two incursions into the (fictional) corrupt African republic of Zangaro: one surveillance, and one military siege. Irvin certainly isn't afraid to take his time, devoting long stretches to the intricacies of Shannon's subterfuge, from his being held up at the airport by corrupt border guards, to his fastidious memorizing the Latin names of local birds to substantiate his cover as ornithologist. It's slow-burning, but Irvin handles it capably, keeping the pacing magnetic. His work is fairly unshowy, and it's tempting to imagine how a more experienced director might have pushed the envelope further and really transformed Shannon's isolation into a transcendental Apocalypse Now type cinematic experience. Still, the film's almost entirely absent soundtrack is effective, and keeps the tension bubbling claustrophobically throughout. In fact, it's really just in the film's middle third, where a disgraced Shannon is unceremoniously evicted from Zangaro, where Irvin's slow-burning turns sluggish to a trying extent. Here, Irvin uncomfortably mirrors Shannon's listless reevaluation of his life, including a logistical planning segment that could easily have trimmed 20-30 minutes without sacrificing any cohesion. Still, Irvin is good at interrupting the potboiling with bursts of frantic action. The opening sequence, dropping the viewer in midway through a previous incursion, is a perfectly chaotic and disorienting note to ground the film on. Midway through the film, Shannon's capture and brutal beating by the Zangaro military (aided by some distressingly believable prosthetic work) lends gruesome consequence to his actions. Finally, Shannon's return with his strike team (including a moustached Tom Berenger and Raiders of the Lost Ark's Paul Freeman) is a long time coming, but such a spectacular maelstrom of pyrotechnics and grenade launchers it's a spectacularly cathartic blowout to the nearly two hours of buildup preceding it. Is it all worth it? By the end, we, like Shannon, are too bludgeoned by the senselessness of combat and political string-pulling (including a seedy reveal of Zangaro's coup being largely funded through British mining trade interests) to be sure. The "War! What is it good for?" moral isn't the most original, but Irvin certainly reiterates it with conviction. If nothing else, The Dogs of War is a crucial illustration in how best to work the notoriously eccentric Christopher Walken as a leading man: let him play the strong, silent type, and allow his eerily riveting facial expressions do the heavy lifting. Slinking through the film with ruthless composure like an eerily doll-like Terminator, Walken's Shannon is perfectly bottled up - hard-edged professionalism as survival mechanism. It's probably the closest he's ever come to a conventional leading man performance - there's no dancing, weird inflection or goofiness here, just the occasional sarcastic one-liner or glint of pure madness in his eyes exposing his stunted ideals and the deep responsibility he feels for his strike team threatening to volcanically explode. There's a multifold catharsis that comes from Shannon finally getting to let loose with a grenade launcher in the final incursion on Zangaro, but his dead-eyed departure from the war zone suggests there is still no peace to be had. It's a remarkably subtle performance, and enough to make you miss the days when Walken was an actor foremost, and Christopher Walken the cult icon second. -7.5/10

lost-in-limbo Unspectacular, but tough and lean slow pot-boiler anti-war feature sees a stoic Christopher Walken on reconnaissance, before leading a group of mercenaries to push out the tyrant dictator of the African nation Zangora. Walken was the lone reason I decided to stick around to watch "The Dogs of War" when it appeared on TV. It's a real mixed bag, as somewhere there is so much potential, but what eventuates is something quite ho-hum. After an excellent build-up (the recon mission) formulating intrigue, tension and harbouring conflict, then midway (the planning) it still remains interesting (because of the intensity Walken and Tom Berenger) despite stodgy pacing and the last quarter (the final assault) is uninspiring and rashly staged, but the closing frames has a neat touch of irony. There's no knocking that it's more thoughtful and conniving in its narrative drive, but the context never truly pushes the boundaries, but gladly it never tries to manipulate the situation either. It's interesting seeing Walken's character really have a change of heart after his returns from his recon mission, well more so booted out with the bruises to prove it. Director John Irvin really does make you feel uncomfortable during those scenes, when it focuses on a badly beat up Walken. It was like fear had engulf his character and then he questions; is there's something better in life than what he does, but after realising he can't go back (the sub-plot midway with his girlfriend) he turns back to what he knows best and the torture he suffered would be a driving force. It almost becomes personal and what he also learns about the devious nature of the American government official he was hired by makes for a powerful climax --- the value of human life, where he would turn a blind eye but not now. Irvin's direction is competently workmanlike and straight-face with a gritty surge, stalwart pacing and some striking international locations. Not your typical war film, but a decent study.

davideisaura ...this movie no doubt severely disappointed most Forsyth fans. It had very little to do with the book. It seems that (as usual) some Hollywood wonk, noting that the novel was a best-seller, gave some hack the basic premise from the back-cover blurb and got him to make something up that would appeal to Joe Sixpack and his girlfriend. The result? A cliché-ridden B-movie. Forsyth must have been livid.It's competently handled (for such an old film it holds up amazingly well), but what presumption! The original story was just fine. What made them think that their version would be better?Pity they didn't have the sense to hire Kenneth Ross to do the screenplay. He'd already done two of Forsyth's other books (Day of the Jackal and Odessa File), and at least made the effort to be faithful to the originals.