Rabid Dogs (2015)

Number Rolled: 58

Movie Name/Year: Rabid Dogs (2015)

Tagline: None

Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller

Length: 93 minutes

Rating: TV-MA

Production Companies: Black Dynamite Films, JD Prod, Les Prodcutions Rabid Dogs, Cinéfrance 1888, Transfilm, Hedgehog, JS Productions, Récifilms, Ciné+, Canal+, Wild Bunch, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Téléfilm Canada

Producer: Julien Deris, Marc Dujardin, Franck Elbase, David Gauquié, Éric Hannezo, Eric Juhérian, Vincent Labrune, Guillaume Lacroix, Renaud Le Van Kim, Nicolas Lesage, Claude Léger, Etienne Mallet, Sylvain Proulx, Mathias Rubin, Julien Seul, Marc Vadé

Director: Eric Hannezo

Writer: Michael J. Carroll, Yannick Dahan, Eric Hannezo, Benjamin Rataud

Actors: Lambert Wilson, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Gouix, Francois Arnaud, Franck Gastambide, Laurent Lucas, Megane Lemee, Gabrielle Lazure

Stunt Doubles: Marie-Eve Beckers, Max Laferriere

Blurb from Netflix: Three criminals from a disastrous bank robbery take a young woman, a father and child hostage in a desperate attempt to get away at any cost.

Selina’s Point of View:

I found this film to be very typical – to the worst of the genre.

There wasn’t all that much substance to it. It was like we were just getting a little bit of insight into a man hunt from the criminal’s point of view. In a situation like that, you expect to learn a lot more about the criminals. You expect them to be humanized and to understand their motives by the end.

Nope. I got none of that.

Even the semi-twist was predictable. I called it near the middle of the movie.

I could understand why someone with less options might watch this film. However, for someone who watches a lot of movies – this one likely won’t stand out to you. It doesn’t do anything to really make itself memorable.

I’ll forget I’ve watched Rabid Dogs by next Friday.

Cat’s Point of View:

The dice had some good timing with this movie. I was in some serious need of distraction today, and action thrillers are almost guaranteed to do the trick. This film was no exception.

The pacing was great, for one. The dialogue didn’t go by too quick, so it was easy to keep up with. There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me right at the edge of my seat.

Let’s talk about that ending, shall we? While I won’t even come close to spoiling it for you, I can say I didn’t see it coming at all. I sat here in a moment of gob-smacked silence.

The movie successfully twisted me up into a pretzel so that at some points I actually felt bad for a couple of the villains of the tale who were in way over their heads.

Of course, that was balanced with a steady sense of wanting them to go take a vacation in the underworld.

While this was essentially a remake of a 1974 film with the same name and premise, some details in the new film were evidently different. For example, the original apparently took place in Italy; and this film is French – though, it’s not entirely clear to me if it was set in France or Canada.

While this movie might not be full of flashy fight scenes or explosions, the action was solid and I didn’t have any problems buying in to what was going on as plausible.

I wouldn’t have any problems giving this film a recommendation.

Languages

Speech Available: French

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 67%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 46%

Metascore - 51/100

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 5.8/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

P.S. There’s a short scene after the credits.

Movie Trailer: