A squad of British regular army soldiers are dropped into the
wilds of Scotland for a special military exercise. They’re playing war games
against a special forces unit who are already on site. One of the soldiers,
Cooper (played by Kevin McKidd, who’s perhaps better known these days for
playing another soldier--2000 years ago, in HBO’s Rome) had tried to join the
special forces, and nearly succeeded--he passed the survival test, yet was
rejected outright by Captain Ryan (Liam Cunnigham), the special forces commander,
because of Cooper's refusal to kill a dog in cold blood. Cooper is just as happy to
be back with his regular squad, one of whom, Joe, is really annoyed because
he’s missing the big "footy" (football, a.k.a. soccer) game that’s on tonight
between England and Germany.
As they settle into their routine patrol, in the calm before the storm, Cooper
relates some spooky stories about the area, dealing with how hikers and campers
have gone missing without a trace. Yet the troops soon find themselves with some
massive problems of their own when they encounter the destroyed camp of their
special forces opponents. The only survivor is Captain Ryan, who’s badly wounded
across the chest and is in a hysterical state. Unable to contact their base, the
soldiers load up their guns for real and prepare to take on a genuinely hostile,
and deadly, enemy. And yet when they hear fierce howling, these troops realize
they're in for the fight of their lives against a pack of werewolves.
Neil Marshal’s first full length film as a writer/director is an intense, fun horror movie
that fondly recalls the classic Hammer Horror films in their glory days. Kevin
McKidd is very good as Cooper, a decent sort of man with a personal code of
honor that clashes with his so-called superior officers. Sean Pertwee is also
great as Sgt. Harry G. Wells, the salt-of-the-earth commander of the regular
army soldiers who has some of the film’s best lines. Marshal wisely keeps the
werewolves off-screen for the better part of the film, making them seem even
more scary as shadowy phantoms that stalk the men through the woods and
eventually into a farm house.
Dog Soldiers is well-acted, well written and genuinely very funny ("Fetch!"),
without the humor becoming too overwhelming, or overly corny. The extras on the
DVD include a commentary track and a retrospective featurette, but the real
reason to get this is for the film itself, which is a genuinely entertaining
horror movie that serves as a great double bill with Marshal’s second film, and
a classic in it’s own right, The Descent.
--SF
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