Dog
Bronwyn Gayle/Metro Goldwyn Mayer PicturesDog appears to be a familiar enough buddy road trip movie, except centred on two war veterans – one of them being a Belgian Malinois. In reality, Dog proves itself to be unexpectedly deep and endearing as the script explores the traumas endured by Dog’s two main characters, and how they come to cope with their experiences.
In the opening scene of Dog, we meet Jackson Briggs (Channing Tatum), a former army ranger looking to deploy again, but due to a prior brain injury, he can’t get medical clearance to leave. Shortly thereafter, Briggs learns that one of his old army buddies, Riley Rodriguez (Eric Urbiztondo) has died. And in return for the possibility of medical clearance, Briggs agrees to a road trip down the Pacific Coast, in order to bring Rodriguez’s army dog, a Belgian Malinois named Lulu, to Rodriguez’s funeral in Arizona. Lulu is also traumatised from her experiences in the war and losing her owner and is hostile towards almost every single person. Despite her heroics, she is to be put down after the funeral. On the road, Briggs and Lulu must learn to understand each other and cope with their experiences.
Channing Tatum has proven himself to be a leading man in multiple genres, and in Dog, he is able to convey both his dramatic and comedic acting chops. There are plenty of scenes in Dog to lighten the mood – such as when Lulu escapes from Briggs’ truck and wanders onto a marijuana plantation or when Briggs decides to post as a blind veteran to get him and Lulu a free hotel room. This scene leans a little problematic but is meant to show Briggs slowly coming to understand Lulu’s feelings. Most of Briggs’ and Lulu’s interactions with one other lean on the funny side, but also show a great progression to understanding as they spend more time with each other on the road. Much of the drama comes towards the film’s end, as Briggs grapples with the idea of Lulu being euthanised after Rodriguez’s funeral. Lulu herself is played by three different dogs (Britta, Lana, and Zuza), and despite being dogs they do a wonderful job showing Lulu to be a nuanced character as she suddenly switches between being a good girl and a homicidal maniac.
Along with playing the film’s lead, Dog marks Channing Tatum’s first time in the director’s chair, co-directing the film with his long-time producing partner Reid Carolin. It is difficult to determine truly how much of a role Tatum had in directing Dog, however, the directing proves to be competent – though nothing particularly special. It will be interesting to see if Tatum decides to tackle a directing project on his own. Co-director Carolin is also a co-screenwriter on Dog along with Brett Rodriguez, and the script is heavy-handed with themes of post-traumatic stress in veterans. Rodriguez himself dies after driving himself 120 mph into a tree, the film never says why but based on how Briggs and Lulu feel, the answer is pretty obvious. There are numerous scenes where Briggs is shown suffering from his brain injury, mostly migraines, and Lulu randomly lashes out at Briggs and other characters throughout the film. Dog’s screenplay also briefly touches on how veterans usually aren’t helped when they return from deployment, as Briggs is shown working at a sandwich shop before the trip, and he often talks about wanting to deploy again for “200k a year”. Dog balances its two lead characters beautifully, as Briggs and Lulu come to be parallels of one another.
Dog manages to elevate a classic road trip film and transform it into a deeper exploration of veterans, both human and animal. It provides the opportunity to meditate on these traumas while adding enough comic relief to keep the film enjoyable. Dog is an uber-sweet film, but one that’s much needed.