Stars: Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Colin Blakely, Paul Freeman, Ed O'Neill, Hugh Millais

Director: John Irvin

Summary: Tough action story, based on Frederick Forsyth's novel about a mercenary who leads his team of hired killers into a scheme to oust a West African dictator.

In the action thriller DOGS OF WAR, a mercenary soldier (Christopher Walken) and his hired killers become involved in a scheme to remove a dictator in West Africa. The film is based on the Frederick Forsyth novel.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

Based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Dogs of Waris an uneasy mix of espionage and combat that never really succeeds in either role. Based around the character of Paul Shannon, the film follows events in the fictional African state of Zagaro. Hired on a reconnaissance mission by a nameless multi-national corporation, Shannon is captured and tortured before his release, only to return to the country to lead a small band of mercenaries (the dogs of the title) in a bloody coup.

The first section of the movie works best, building a real sense of tension and unease, not least through a typically understated performance by Christopher Walken as the paranoid loner who keeps a pistol in his fridge (watch too for a brief appearance from a young Jim Broadbent). There are obvious references to the by-then obsolete school of Vietnam filmmaking in the second section, with the Asian enemy replaced by an African one. The gung-ho mentality of the soldiers is, however, so two-dimensional that the viewer develops little empathy for their plight. The action is slow and drawn out, with the seemingly endless pregnant pauses operating as a means for enabling the film to achieve a reasonable running time.

On the DVD:little is on offer here aside from the usual scene selection, audio and subtitle options and original cinema trailer. --Phil Udell

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Original Theatrical Trailer, Interactive Menu, Chapter Selection
Subtitles:	Danish, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish
Year:	1981
Release Date:	February 18, 2002
Runtime:	113 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	16159 D V D
Keywords:	Action, Dogs, War, General, Wide, Screen, Adventure
Genre:	Action/Adventure