Dog Soldiers
Werewolf pic runs ahead of the pack

Werewolves are the diners and humans are on the menu in "Dog Soldiers," a top-notch entry in the humans versus rampaging beasties genre. The story is a rather basic survival tale, but good acting, writing, special effects and some delightfully imaginative violence all work together to lift this one well above the average.

In the Scottish Highlands, a squad of British soldiers are on a routine training mission when they encounter a Special Forces captain who has had his own squad nearly wiped out by mysterious creatures. The squad is soon attacked again, and they beat a hasty retreat with some of the company badly wounded. Making it to the road, they are rescued by a female zoologist who has been investigating reports of werewolves in the area. At the woman's suggestion, the group goes to a nearby farmhouse where they hope to make a stand against the werewolves.

For fans of this genre, the film satisfies on several levels, most notably in the writing. Neil Marshall's script (Marshall also directed) is tight and believable; he has the macho banter of the soldiers down cold, and the movie is filled with memorable lines; a sergeant urges his men to action: "If we do happen to make contact, I expect nothing less than gratuitous violence from the lot of ya."

His colorful dialogue is endlessly inventive in this way, and right up to the end he keeps coming up with new lines, as do the other soldiers. The lines are cleverly done, but more importantly, they are in character; they sound like something the character would say, instead of just something that a scriptwriter cooked up for them to say. This is not standard issue army lingo, but genuine well-thought out dialogue that at times reminded me of Quentin Tarantino. Marshall definitely put a lot of thought into his script.

The squad members are each fleshed out nicely, too, both in the writing and in the performance, and they really fit together well as a unit. It was nice ensemble work and I would be surprised if they didn't all have a rehearsal period before shooting. This sometimes happens on larger budget films, and it allows the actors to work on their roles and stake out a little turf for their characters to live in, but such rehearsal is a luxury on many smaller budget films.

If, as is more likely given "Dog Soldiers" tighter budget, the actors basically showed up when the shooting script told them to, then Marshall and the actors did a remarkable job in getting up to speed.

The film also never forgets that these soldiers are fighting men. One of the film's highlights for me was when one of the soldiers, Spoon — who has earlier expressed his excitement at facing the hopeless odds — runs out of ammo. Face to face with a werewolf, instead of balking he wades right in and tries to administer a good old-fashioned, bare knuckle, beat-down on the beastie — a tactic that catches the werewolf flat-footed and off-guard.

Given the fact that we know some or most of the soldiers will die, Marshall also avoids the boring body count formula. No one decides to go for a swim in the lake in spite of what's going on, no one ignores orders and heads down into the basement alone, or other stupid prolonged scenes. Instead, the soldiers take the normal calculated risks associated with battle, and they die or survive a skirmish accordingly.

The werewolves were frightening and convincing: seven-feet tall, powerful and intelligent; more than being just mindless marauders, they formulate an attack strategy of their own that, while not exactly being a genius plan, has a crude and undeniable effectiveness. I appreciated their ingenuity and commitment to a certain logical sadism. To kill is not enough; when they get a chance, they kill with style. I'm thinking in particular of a shot in which a werewolf chews a soldier's head off.

Chews as in gnaws: it's not a quick and easy decapitation, mind you, but a considered act in which the werewolf deliberately chews at the neck until the head is off (my apologies for the Lovecraftian use of italics there, it just seemed to fit). Mission accomplished the werewolf turns and contemptuously lobs the head toward another soldier. Icky.

As this example might show, if you are squeamish about violence, "Dog Soldiers" is not for you. For me, the violence was redeemed by the way Marshall made it flow out of the narrative; the gore effects weren't planned and staged as a gross-out stunt as in so many monster-type movies, but were a natural by-product of combat. War is hell, after all, and the violence in "Dog Soldiers" is much more akin to the violence in the opening D-Day scene in "Saving Private Ryan."

In short, if you are in the mood for a creepy, scary, violent monster movie, "Dog Soldiers" is an exceptional choice for its meticulous writing, excellent performances and attention to gory detail.