Dog Bite Dog (2006)
Dog Bite Dog (2006) 8/10
Stark, visceral and utterly nilhilistic, Dog Bite Dog will be remembered as the film that Edison Chen finally sheds his pretty boy image in a performance that’s quite good, actually. Now if only it was 15 mins shorter.
Taut pacing and excellent control of mood and tension marks director Soi Cheang’s newest offering. Having made a good impression with 2004’s Love Battlefield, Soi once again scores with his gritty take on the darker side of human nature. Beautifully shot in sombre, dark colors with the hongkong cityscape playing an excellent backdrop, Dog Bite Dog feels like One Nite In Mongkok meets Unleashed. In any case, its certainly more visceral and frenetic than either films and in this bloodsoaked film, everyone has a dark ugly side. For those who expect all their films to have a happy ending, this is clearly not the film for you.
Edison Chen sheds off his Gen X Cops days, with a psychotic and seriously wacked performance that might just nab him a nomination at the HK film awards later. Even if he doesn’t win any trophys or nominations, this is definately his best performance to date. Its also great to see Sam Lee, oft relegated to sidekick or supporting status given such a meaty role. He matches Edison Chen notch for notch and at times look even more crazed than Chen.
In a bleak, redemptionless world where the police is corrupt and violent, our anti-hero is Edison Chen, a violent and merciless killer chased by an equally crazed cop played by Sam Lee. The cat and mouse game, plus the inclusion of newcomer Pei Pei as Edison Chen’s humanising factor, makes for a compelling and gritty urban thriller that for most parts, soars.
However, Soi Cheang inexplicably drops the ball in the ending, which is utterly superfluous and needlessly over the top. This is a film that should have ended 15mins earlier, but the director decides to suddenly shift the locale to another place. What had once worked as a taut urban cat and mouse thriller with muted colors suddenly gets a sharp change in mood which really threatened to spoil the film. The film was unfolding within a compacted time period, when the time frame suddenly shifts to a few months later towards the ending. This is absolutely unnecessary and detracts from the film. If the director cut the last part of the film and ended it earlier, Dog Bite Dog will probably be in my Top 100 films list. As it is, the weak ending preventing me from rating this more favourably. Nevertheless, at a time where the HK films are often of dubious quality, Dog Bite Dog is a solid film and an excellent antidote to those who have watched too many saccharine rom-coms.
