Dogman (2023) Review

Far from a dog’s dinner yet somewhat lacklustre, Dogman (2023) is an entertaining character piece about revenge, belonging and identity that suffers from an unengaging pace and visuals that leave much to be desired.

Although I cannot claim to be very familiar with Luc Besson’s filmography, what little I’ve seen in particular films like La femme Nikita (1990) and the cult classic Leon: The Professional (1994) shone far brighter than Dogman ever came close to. Perhaps it can come down to simple nitpicking but I often found the cinematography and editing lifeless and cheap, unfortunately not in a charming way. The only reason I could think of for this lingering sour taste in my mouth is down to the film’s use of OSVP for some scenes but even then, this never struck me as incompetent or abysmal, just incredibly disappointing when coming from a director attached to such critically lauded works.

Continuing this trend of just disappointment rather than failure is the abundance of cliches littered throughout. The psychopath with a fluid gender identity, the hillbilly religious fanatic and so on, it all just adds up to a rather generic screenplay which while not something I’d outright deem as objectively bad and can tell would appeal to those unbothered to me it left me wanting something riskier. It lacks the self-reflexivity that say a Tarantino film would have when approaching these types of narrative and especially the representation of gender fluidity while not motivated by prejudice I can see easily being interpretated as reductive giving a more damaging angle to the reliance on cliches.

I find myself wondering if the character of Douglas was influenced by the notorious case of Oxana Malaya, a Ukrainian woman, who as a child was neglected and abused by her parents leading her to be raised by dogs as she began adopting their behaviour. The life of Malaya remains distinct from that of Douglas with obvious artistic liberties taken in depicting the true psychological ramifications of such an upbringing which would not suit the action-revenge conventions of Dogman. I think Besson is right in not delving into the complex and abhorrent truth of the Malaya case and instead using such an event as more of a premise than the crutch of an entire screenplay.

However, I don’t want this to be entirely negative as there is much to praise. The performances in the film all stood out to me as admirable. Personal highlights were Caleb Landry Jones’ lead role and Alexander Settineri as Douglas’ older brother. Never once did I feel like an actor gave a phoned in performance and that they elevated the written material given to heights you’d never expect from just reading. Bresson and his crew clearly knew what they were doing when it came to their cast.

The performances of all the dogs should be noted as well. For as silly as their role may be to some this was one of the few aspects of the narrative that I felt freed the film from its restricting cliches. Seeing such an earnest connection form between Douglas and these creatures was as heartwarming as this twisted scenario could be and I’m sure to be agreed upon by any dog owners.

Overall, Dogman is a film that I’m sure will have its supporters especially with die hard Besson fans yet to me it’s a film that has largely left my mind since. There are plenty more similar films that even if technically worse feel like they’re willing to take even greater risks making for a more memorable time. It’s a film that promises you exactly what the title and poster promise which is sure to scratch the itch of plenty of action fans out there.

Movie Rating:

Dogman trailer