Dog Soldiers Review

Dog Soldiers review.

Dog Soldiers has something for everyone. It’s funny and action packed. It has good practical effects and a memorable werewolf design. The expected dramatic beats and wolfy twists are used well. There are a lot of werewolf movies out there…Dog Soldiers is one of the best.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.

Dog Soldiers

Directed by Neil Marshall

Written by Neil Marshall

Starring Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby and Liam Cunningham

Dog Soldiers Review

Dog Soldiers may not be Neil Marshall’s best movie. The Descent certainly has a strong case. It’s one of these two movies. Dog Soldiers is the more purely entertaining. The Descent is scarier and better crafted. I’d probably give the edge to his terrifying 2005 spelunking movie. But this 2002 werewolf action spectacle is right there with it.

A squad of soldiers is on a training mission in the Scottish Highlands. They discover the remains of the team they were meeting. They take a wounded survivor with them and try to fend off the beasts that attacked his unit. The attack, they learn, was perpetrated by werewolves. They hole up in an abandoned farmhouse and prepare to fight through the night in hopes they can reach the morning alive.

It takes a while for Dog Soldiers to hit its stride. The opening scenes of soldiers in the woods don’t prepare you for the tone of the movie once it gets moving. It’s a bland opening to a movie that becomes so much more. It’s not bad, mind you…I just felt we should get the one negative out of the way before jumping into what will be a glowing review.

Once our group of heroes (led by Sean Pertwee) discover what remains of the squad from the film’s opening scene…Dog Soldiers is a treat. It becomes a non-stop thrill ride. There is quality action and comedy. Drama and suspense. Everything you could want in a werewolf movie is here.

Let’s start with the werewolves. They sport a tall, powerful look. They’re strong and savage. We don’t get an epic transformation scene with limbs distending and hair pushing through pores. What we do get is an effective build to one followed by a reveal of the monster. It’s very well done. Especially on the budget Marshall is working with. The practical effects of Dog Soldiers are top notch. Limbs strewn about. Blood covers everything. It’s what you expect done well.

The human cast of Dog Soldiers is nothing to sneeze at either. Pertwee shines as the likable leader Sgt. Wells. He’s contrasted by Liam Cunningham’s Captain Ryan. Ryan is the sole surviving, injured soldier the squad comes across in the first act. He was a bastard before werewolves attacked him. His brush with death has not mellowed him. The group comes across Meg (Emma Cleasby), a zoologist who makes sense of all this werewolf stuff.

The bulk of Dog Soldiers is played out as a last stand in an abandoned house. The soldiers gear up for a war they couldn’t have prepared for. There is ample carnage and loss. The requisite werewolf turns are here too. They’re among the most effective parts of Dog Soldiers. Ryan’s turn explains the backstory. Meg’s turn is the match that lights the dynamite climax.

We get the expected sacrifices and noble deaths. We see the expected sole survivor as well. What’s happening between these notes is what makes Dog Soldiers a classic. This movie is flat out fun. Dialogue between characters feels natural. Action scenes are of a high intensity. Gore effects in find form. The biggest ace up its sleeve though…Dog Soldiers is very funny.

When Wells and company come across their first werewolf, Wells gets hurt. By that I mean…his intestines are ripped out. Attempts to stuff them back inside are only partially successful. At one point a dog fights with Wells over a rope of his guts while he lays on the floor. Eventually, he gets patched up and can help in the final fight. This is all, of course, completely absurd. It’s an example of the shifting tones Dog Soldiers has a mastery of. One minute there is a savage fight followed by a suspenseful one. The next minute we’re watching a man play tug of war with a dog over his intestines and learning about the lore of Marshall’s werewolves. This movie has everything.

There are better werewolf movies than Dog Soldiers…but there aren’t many. And I’m not sure any werewolf movie has its combination of quality and wild entertainment. Perhaps just An American Werewolf in London. Either way, Dog Soldiers ranks high in every category you can put it in.

Scare Value

You’re not going to do much better than Dog Soldiers for a full moon watch. It offers great characters dealing with an action-packed night of werewolves. Even the things you are expecting feel fresh here. It’s also a darkly funny movie that has a lot of fun with its premise. Once Dog Soldiers gets rolling…it doesn’t stop until the end credits.

4.5/5