Over the weekend, I caught Alpha Dog at the local theater. This is the much delayed (due to legal issues in the real-life case) movie based on the story of one of youngest criminals on the FBI's Most Wanted List. It has a cast full of actors that might well be dubbed the Brat Pack of this decade, including Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and yes, Justin Timberlake (who has no holiday gifts for anyone to unwrap).There are a few flaws with the movie. Some of the scenes go on far too long -- in particular, the "ending" of the film (after its narrative climax), and various sequences meant to convey a "party atmosphere" among these teenage/early-twenty-something characters.
The movie is sometimes presented in a fake documentary manner, with specific characters being "interviewed some time later" after the events being portrayed. But this technique is not used consistently throughout the movie. Interviews pepper the opening half hour and the final fifteen minutes, but are completely absent from the rest of the film. (And the story is much more compelling without them.)
The tale also actually suffers a bit from the knowledge it's based on a true story. As a purely fictional account, one could imagine several different ways events could go. But knowing that it's a real story, you know it has to end up a certain way for it to have merited having a movie made about it in the first place.
But, all that said, there's a lot in this movie to count in the good column -- namely, the acting. The cast is really outstanding, in some cases, surprisingly so. Ben Foster (who had a great run on Six Feet Under and was completely wasted in X-Men III) is the absolute star of every one of the relatively few scenes he has. Anton Yelchin is so good in the role around which the story revolves that it makes me curious in checking out the Showtime series Huff, in which he starred. Emile Hirsch skillfully portrays a "tough guy" in a way that it's clear he's not really that tough. Sharon Stone actually works well in the movie, because she's playing a mostly unhinged character.
And yeah, you might not believe it unless you see it yourself, but Justin Timberlake is pretty damn good too. He's going to get more work in films because of this.
Alpha Dog is something of a genre hopper -- a "gangsta" film that actually appealed to me. All told, I give the movie a B.
1 comment:
Mmmm... this is one of the films I considered seeing at the Sudance film festival last year. I was slightly put off by JT being in it, so it is good to know he aquits himself well.
He's already in another film. Black Snake Moan is a movie about a blues singer and a nymphomaniac starring Samuel L Jackson and Christina Ricci with Justin Timberlake in a supporting role. It is written and directed by the same guy who did Hustle and Flow. I had wanted to see it at this year's Sundance, but it was sold out by the time I looked for tickets. I'm sure it will get a decent distribution due to the stars and the writer/director.
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