Dog Bite Dog: Dragon Dynasty Two-Disc Ultimate – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Directed by
Pou-Soi Cheang

Cast:
Edison Chen … Pang
Sam Lee … Insp. Ti Wai
Weiying Pei … Yue
Siu-Fai Cheung … Chief Insp. Sum
Yiu-Cheung Lai … Insp. Tang Wing-Cheung
Suet Lam … Insp. ‘Fat’ Lam
Ka Wah Lam … Wai’s Father


The Movie:

On the surface, it would be easy to compare Pou-Soi Cheang’s Dog Bite Dog to Louis Leterrier’s 2005 Jet Li vehicle Unleashed. Both feature an assassin that has been trained from birth to live very much like a dog, with their masters in complete control of their actions, letting the men out only to kill, either in the ring or out on the street. This is pretty much where the similarities seem to stop though. As the Jet Li film was a terrific Action movie with a kind of Hollywood ending, Dog Bite Dog ends up being the grittiest, dirtiest Hong Kong film I’ve ever seen.

The movie stars Edison Chen as Pang, a hitman who has lived his existence famished and having to constantly fight for his life in death matches in shady little back alleys and Thai clubs. Chen brings a lot of the intensity he brought with him to Infernal Affairs II here, making Pang a vicious, remorseless killer who slaughters a woman in broad daylight, and then ends up going on a killing spree in order to get away from the police. Chen plays the role, though, as if Pang doesn’t even know that what he’s doing is wrong, as he kills in the same manner that he would do any menial task.

Again, the degree of intensity that Chen brings to this role is incredible. You can see how Pang is on the edge of starvation, as the hitman is in rags, but has enough money to gorge himself on food at a restaurant before his target arrives at the same establishment for dinner. Thing is, Chen still ends up making the character quite pitiful when he isn’t engaged in violence. There is a definite child like quality to him, but not in an overt way, like Li’s performance in Unleashed.

This is subtler and more real portrayal, and Director Pou-Soi Cheang backs Chen up by giving him an almost apocalyptic Hong Kong landscape to work with. This is Hong Kong at its darkest and grimiest as drug dealers and rapists seem to populate the streets. Cheang and Cinematographer Yuen Man Fung give the film a washed-out noir look, giving the movie an even edgier feel to it, reminding me of Fincher’s Se7en at times as Chen fights to stay out of jail.

The majority of the film plays out like a game of cat and mouse, as a disgraced cop, Insp. Ti Wai (Sam Lee), is relentless in his pursuit of Pang. Lee is able to match Chen for passion here, as Wai is driven almost mad with his obsession at catching Pang. The officer watches as his friends and fellow officers are gunned down or dispatched in worse ways by the killer and Wai makes it his personal mission to bring Pang to justice.

Director Cheang sets ups incredible action sequences, but never puts them together like standard Hong Kong action. All the fighting is hard hitting and brutal, with no Kung-Fu or choreographed looking action in sight. Fights between Pang and Wai are wild and unpredictable, as each end battle ends up taking its toll on each man, and usually ends in a horribly savage conclusion.

The film even takes an interesting left, as Pang comes across a wayward young girl (Weiying Pei) and the two find a connection. Taking the girl under his care, Pang desperately tries to make their escape from Hong Kong while the unbalanced Wai is hot on their heels. Surprisingly, the relationship with Pang and the girl is actually quite sweet and never feels forced like you would expect it to. This also serves to change how you look at Pang as the film goes on. Inside of just a wild animal, you can see his humanity try to fight through, and as he desperately tries to protect the girl, you feel for him, especially as the police start to get more and more obsessive about catching the fugitive.

The biggest problem the film has is that it seems to go on too long. Once off the island, the movie loses a lot of its momentum, and the conclusion the film comes up with is not entirely satisfactory, but still entertaining. Even as the film goes off the rails, Lee and Chen are still so good; you can’t help but stay interested. Its just too bad the film isn’t as good at its end as it is through most of its running time.

Dog Bite Dog is one of the most unique and challenging films I’ve ever seen out of Hong Kong. The film isn’t a black and white, good guy/bad guy actioner, and instead forces you to look at these characters with a more discerning eye. The action and cinematography are top notch here, and while the story is in Hong Kong, this is one of the best films to come from the country in a long time. Even with its problems, Dog Bite Dog is a terrific movie with a lot going for it, and for Hong Kong fans tired of the standard output from the country, this is a terrific piece of film making showing just how edgy their movies can still be.


The DVD:

The Video

This is a good, but not great print of the movie, as there is some debris on the print, and the colors are a little too dark at time. Overall, this is a more than acceptable picture though. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

The Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is even better, as the sound here is quite good, showcasing the movie’s excellent sound design. Score never seems overwhelm dialogue, and action is always well pronounced.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

Feature Length Audio Commentary by leading man Edison Chen and Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan – This is a terrific commentary track from these two, as each brings a unique and well-informed perspective to the track. The commentary literally seems to never stop, as both participants keep coming with little tidbits of knowledge. I especially like a section where Chen talks about how difficult it is making films in Asia, because productions, except for a few anomalies, are pretty “ghetto”. This kind of gives you perspective on how many people keep making films because its part of their art and not because of big budgets and cushy jobs like you would find in Hollywood.

Dog Bite Dog Explored – This is an exhaustive documentary on the making of this film, which goes about an hour or so. This is a multi-part documentary which features a lot of on set footage, as well as interviews with the cast and crew talking about their experience on making the film.

Top Dog: An Interview with Star Edison Chen Chen talks about how he accepted the gig because the director relented when Chen demanded he play the killer. Chen also talks about how he really doesn’t make a lot of Hong Kong films anymore, but this one was particularly different and edgy, so he decided to go ahead with this one. This interview goes about 16-17 minutes.

Unleashed: An Interview with Star Sam Lee – Lee talks a lot in this interview about how his face and demeanor have kind of type cast him because he’s usually stuck in comedies and more light hearted roles. Dog Bite Dog was a chance for him to really break out as an actor and he hopes that it helps him in the long run.

Biting The Bullet: An Interview with Director Pou-Soi Cheang – Another great interview here as the Director talks about how difficult this shoot was but what a joy it was to work with the actors. He talks a lot about the ending of the film and what he was trying to do with it.

Every Dog Has Its Day: An Interview with Co-Star Lam Suetb — Luet is a colorful and funny character actor that actually started out as a member of several Hong Kong crews and had to beg directors to give him acting jobs. Once in front of the camera though, he found he really liked it and decided to keep it up. This is a pretty fun interview that goes about 8 minutes.

Trailers – You get trailers for this film as well as other Dragon Dynasty Titles.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for
Dog Bite Dog: Dragon Dynasty Two-Disc Ultimate Edition
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

7.5
THE VIDEO

7.5
THE AUDIO

8
THE EXTRAS

8.5
REPLAY VALUE

8
OVERALL
8
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.