ALPHA DOG
Director: Nick Cassavetes Stars: Emile Hirsch, Bruce Willis, Shawn Hatosy, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Anton Yelchin, Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
Based on a true story. In fact, there were legal difficulties during 2006 and the film was shelved for some time. The central character had been on the Most Wanted list (the youngest) since 1999 and was discovered in Paraguay in October 2005. Lawyers claimed that the film would prejudice his chances of getting a fair trial. Well, looking at the film, we see he is certainly guilty.
Watching the film is often a very unpleasant experience so unpleasant are practically all the characters. Who would really want to spend time with these young men and women of Los Angeles, all part of the drug culture, often with affluent families, who pass a lot of time in their real lives and in the first part of the film, partying, drugging and drinking – with an incessantly expletive vocab? The rationale is that this is what they were like and, if we are going to understand their world, we have to be immersed in it, albeit in the comfort of our cinema seats.
When the film goes into action, re-creating the actual events of the abduction of the 15 year old brother of a really strung-out and violent addict and dealer, we experience a cumulative sense of menace as the boy (who is indulging in and enjoying the partying, drugs and sex aspects of his kidnapping) moves unwittingly towards his death.
Emile Hirsch (the deceitful boy in The Emperor’s Club) is Johnny Truelove (in fact his real name was, believe it or not, Jesse James Hollywood – maybe destined to his life of crime), who wheels and deals in drugs and money, has a loyal following of hangers-on and who has virtually been set up in business by his father (played by Bruce Willis). His friends include Justin Timberlake in a crucial role and with a fine performance and Shawn Hatosy as the most servile and dangerous of the friends.
But, one of the main points being made by the film as we watch Johnny and his swagger, his hold over his gang, his demands and the abduction of the boy, is that he may be seen as the Alpha Dog but he is a really weak character, frightened without his backup, sexually impotent and no brainwave at all. These young men are really quite dumb with their violent behaviour and reliance on drugs and drink, which is a peer pressure way of trying to deal with the fact that they are not all that bright. And it has disastrous results.
The performances, apart from Hirsch who stays rather low-key and slow, are often frantic, erupting performances, especially Ben Foster as the dealer who causes all the trouble. Anton Yelchin, who has appeared in many television series and telemovies, is impressive as the abducted boy. In the background are Harry Dean Stanton as on old barfly and Sharon Stone as the boy’s mother.
Depressing when you think of how the characters take this kind of dead-end life for granted and as the real thing.