"Not a nice book" is how Frederick Forsyth once described his third published novel, "The Dogs Of War", a stinging depiction of the captains of industry who mistreat the Third World, and the soldiers of fortune who do their bidding. Credit director John Irvin for getting the tone right in this adaptation of the Forsyth story. It's not a nice movie.
Christopher Walken stars as Jamie Shannon, whose otherwise empty life sitting in a Manhattan apartment watching John Roland and the Channel 5 newsteam on a snowy television screen is relieved only by the occasional assignment to gather up some equally dissolute comrades and blast their way through some far-away trouble spot for a few thousand bucks. The latest job: Overthrow the vicious leader of the African nation of Zangaro. With nothing much to live for, Shannon agrees.
Walken is the central reason to watch "Dogs Of War". His intensity in this early period of his career could be off-putting, but it fits Shannon like a glove, his glazed stare and choppy line readings suggesting a person who knows life is cheap and words cheaper still.
"Just so we understand each other, you're dead," is his way of starting one conversation. "Give me straight answers and I'll keep it painless."
As a war movie, "Dogs Of War" doesn't exactly play things straight, though. Like the novel, it spends much of its time dealing with the preparations for the Zangaro raid, long sequences of soldering metal barrels and running cargo that drag. There's also a visit Shannon pays to his ex-wife, which features some nice acting from Walken and JoBeth Williams but establishes nothing other than the emptiness of Shannon's life, about which we already know.
Joining action and character is the hallmark of any good war movie, and this "Dogs Of War" fails to do. Shannon takes a trip to Zangaro to investigate the country, a sequence that proves nothing other than that he's a lousy spy and the Zangarians play rough. Colin Blakely overacts badly as a reporter who makes Shannon's acquaintance and then decides to see what he's up to, for reasons that seem to have more to do with the character's drinking than any logical journalistic reason. The big finale features a good deal of sloppy exposition, particularly a revolving grenade gun Shannon wields that hit pillboxes with pinpoint precision.
It's smaller moments that connect in "Dogs Of War", like Shannon talking to his doctor (the always reliable Shane Rimmer). "You've taken a lot of years off the back end of your life," the doctor says, to which Shannon can only shrug. Or Shannon in a customs office with an unnamed agent (Olu Jacobs) who seems to think himself fair for stealing only half of Shannon's valuables.
Ultimately, it's Walken you take away from "Dogs Of War", his hooded 1,000-yard stare, occasional bits of surprising pre-cowbell humor, and his naked way of projecting both toughness and insecurity. If only he had been given a better script, "Dogs Of War" might have been an early milestone in his celebrated career.
Christopher Walken stars as Jamie Shannon, whose otherwise empty life sitting in a Manhattan apartment watching John Roland and the Channel 5 newsteam on a snowy television screen is relieved only by the occasional assignment to gather up some equally dissolute comrades and blast their way through some far-away trouble spot for a few thousand bucks. The latest job: Overthrow the vicious leader of the African nation of Zangaro. With nothing much to live for, Shannon agrees.
Walken is the central reason to watch "Dogs Of War". His intensity in this early period of his career could be off-putting, but it fits Shannon like a glove, his glazed stare and choppy line readings suggesting a person who knows life is cheap and words cheaper still.
"Just so we understand each other, you're dead," is his way of starting one conversation. "Give me straight answers and I'll keep it painless."
As a war movie, "Dogs Of War" doesn't exactly play things straight, though. Like the novel, it spends much of its time dealing with the preparations for the Zangaro raid, long sequences of soldering metal barrels and running cargo that drag. There's also a visit Shannon pays to his ex-wife, which features some nice acting from Walken and JoBeth Williams but establishes nothing other than the emptiness of Shannon's life, about which we already know.
Joining action and character is the hallmark of any good war movie, and this "Dogs Of War" fails to do. Shannon takes a trip to Zangaro to investigate the country, a sequence that proves nothing other than that he's a lousy spy and the Zangarians play rough. Colin Blakely overacts badly as a reporter who makes Shannon's acquaintance and then decides to see what he's up to, for reasons that seem to have more to do with the character's drinking than any logical journalistic reason. The big finale features a good deal of sloppy exposition, particularly a revolving grenade gun Shannon wields that hit pillboxes with pinpoint precision.
It's smaller moments that connect in "Dogs Of War", like Shannon talking to his doctor (the always reliable Shane Rimmer). "You've taken a lot of years off the back end of your life," the doctor says, to which Shannon can only shrug. Or Shannon in a customs office with an unnamed agent (Olu Jacobs) who seems to think himself fair for stealing only half of Shannon's valuables.
Ultimately, it's Walken you take away from "Dogs Of War", his hooded 1,000-yard stare, occasional bits of surprising pre-cowbell humor, and his naked way of projecting both toughness and insecurity. If only he had been given a better script, "Dogs Of War" might have been an early milestone in his celebrated career.