Movie Review - Dog Bite Dog

Me bro commented about this show that he watched in a DVD he bought recently. He gave full thumbs up for this one noting that this one is rather different from those silly HK movies of late and I was thinking hey why not ? With the recenly influx of darker HK genre of films which harps on the grim yet successful Infernal Affairs saga which spawns equally society boggling movies such as "mobster-Democracy" Election 1 & 2 and a few more I think this is worth a shot.

The synopsis of Dog Bite Dog is pretty simple, no it aint ur next door Cinapek uncle rearing Rottweilers biting ur opposite indian neighbours Cina-auntie Beijing Shih-Tzu. This movie potrays Pang [played by Edison Chen who threw away his heartthrob image to don his first challenging role] a brutally bred and brought up Cambodian assasin being illegally shipped to HK to do a job on a barrister lady [whom the order was placed by her judge husband because she asked for a divorce which will take half of his wealth away]. Playing catch and mouse with the HK police force, Pang found himself lost in the cosmopolitan city and therefore seeks way to survive including bloody and brutal massacare of those who are in his path. The one who always on his tail is Wai [played by former funnymen Sam Lee but now an exaggerated SOB in an unwelcomed scene] who from time to time gone berserk with the downfall of his beloved comrades tries all his best to track the physco Cambodian maniac down hence the cat and mouse.

Recipe for a good and grim HK adventure? Not quite ....
Well HongKies are always masters of exaggeration ... this movie promote hatred, cruelty and brutality to the max. Blood are shed everywhere until there are no pints reserved for the blood bank. You witness the brutalest of murder even the beheading of POW are mere-childplay. I was disturbed with one scene where Pang took the ice breaker and slit in right to the throat of the police officer he held hostage [ I think Sharon Stome handles ice breaker the best].

As for the relevance of the homework done on how Pang was brought up, I cant comment much because I hv no depth knowledge about this but I thought I bumped somewhere abt children being raised to kill each other brutally. Art of survival to the max ... the most efficient way to nurture the PERFECT ASSASIN. Heartless

But for all that Dog Bite Dog offers, as usual I will ask back another question to those who brought this to the screen ... wats the message behind this show ? Sheer violence wihtout humanity values ? Or rather blatant promotion of hate of a heartless Cambodian physco assasin who found himself lost in the cosmopolitan city of HK? Call me narrow or shallow but I might not be artistic enuff to understand this ... but then HK movies are a bunch of crap which is riding on a direction-less [oh understatement] .. I would say that their industry is into no direction at all !!! Its just that they simple coax up a brutal, heartless and sheer violence show to the audience who enjoy movie without thinking ? I know I am not a moviegoer who does not think whilst watching ...

To top things, the ending is ridiculously stupid and at times hillarious. Sam Lee, my advise to you is that your business lies elsewhere in comical role, you cant play eye-lash shaven hard kicking phyco SOB maniac ... its not ur cup of tea. Your sheer exaggeration of the character is laughable at times ... and if this is how HK celebrate such movie that generates the future of HK movie scene, its rather pitiful for them as they are dying ... and worse than Malaysia because at least we have Yasmin Ahmad as the saving grace with Sepet and Gubra.

I cant be that cruel anyways, the saving grace of this show actually lies in Edison whom I think did an Oked job in potraying a confused lad running away from the law. At times his potrayal is less convincing but I reckon if he plays more of such roles will do him good than of those his heartthrobbing roles of late.

To sum it up => DOG BITE DOG .... I think it the Dog dropping in front of my neighbours gate smells better ...

Ciaoz