Synopsis
Carved from a lifetime of experience that runs the gamut from incarceration to liberation, Dog Eat Dog is the story of three men who are all out of prison and now have the task of adapting themselves to civilian life.
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Cast
- Nicolas CageTroy
- Willem DafoeMad Dog
- Christopher Matthew CookDiesel
- Omar J. DorseyMoon Man
- Louisa KrauseZoe
- Melissa BolonaLina
- Reynaldo GallegosChepe
- Chelcie LynnSheila
- Bruce ReizenMaurie
- Nicky WhelanDaniece
Recommendations
- 80
The Guardian
It’s terrifically watchable, a high-octane automobile of a film with dodgy steering, but exciting in a world of dull and prissy hybrids. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
The film positively swills in its disreputability and all-around low-budgetness; sporting a healthy disregard for respectability, Schrader has just gone for it here with a highly focused recklessness that he turns to his creative advantage. - 67
The Film Stage
Lacking the earlier stylistic exuberance, Dog Eat Dog loses all momentum, taking forever to come to a conclusion both foregone and deeply dissatisfying. - 67
The A.V. Club
An exercise in gratuitousness that’s fitful by design, Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog avoids any relationship between character psychology and visual style; they jab against each other, angrily vying for attention, as a nihilistic commentary on crime movies and genre stories. - 50
Screen Daily
One thing that can be said about brazen crime comedy Dog Eat Dog is that it’s a full-blooded venture in every respect, with Schrader and his leads Cage and Willem Dafoe clearly enjoying the gore-soaked frenzy. But the film also feels like a too- familiar reheating of in-your-face Tarantino-style crime tropes. - 50
We Got This Covered
Dog Eat Dog is all bark and no bite, playing around in a sandbox of vulgarity with little rhyme or reason. - 42
The Playlist
Even within Schrader’s own back catalogue, Dog Eat Dog feels like a lukewarm retread of elements he has achieved, as a writer and director, much better before. It’s just that here they’re mashed together gracelessly, with a kind of bullying undercurrent, as though designed to get a rise out of you, just so it can deliver two for flinching. - 40
Variety
That’s not to say Dog Eat Dog is bereft of interesting choices. Far from it, though its infrequent bursts of gonzo brilliance are all in service of such an uninteresting premise.
