Simply Perfect

Memorable, crazy movie

Great Film overall

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I honestly wasn't expecting too much from this movie, but for what I got I was entertained and never bored. BLACK DOG is a fairly standard late-90's B-grade action movie, but its colorful characters help it to transcend the genre clichés and make it somewhat memorable. The basic plot is that Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) is in need of some extra money and agrees to take a truck-driving job transporting some goods. Little does he know that it's some illegal guns, and soon he has people on his trail as he tries to make the delivery.I've never been too much of a Patrick Swayze fan, mostly because I don't think he can act that well. He has some charisma, for sure, but the only movie I've really enjoyed him in prior to this was ROAD HOUSE. Here, he doesn't get that kind of a role to play, but thankfully the supporting players pick up the slack and make the movie worth watching. Of those cast members, the most entertaining were Meat Loaf as a Bible-quoting madman, and Charles Dutton and Stephen Tobolowsky as a bickering FBI and ATF agent, respectively. Their short scene that opens the film is, in my opinion, the best part and sort of sets the tone for what follows, at least when they're on screen. Randy Travis also has a supporting role, but all they can do with him is make jokes and references to his real-life career as a country singer.In general, the acting was decent for this type of movie. The action, of course, was well-done. By virtue of being produced before Hollywood became obsessed with CGI and shaky-cam, this film features real stunts, real explosions and crisp, clean action sequences done with some flair. Yes, having cars and trucks explode on impact in a collision is ridiculous, but it's also ridiculously entertaining to watch. Most importantly, the truck-driving sequences were filmed in an interesting way, and actually on the highway. Other positives I can think of are a suitably bombastic score and some gentle soundtrack cuts courtesy of Randy Travis. I don't really care for country music, but he's one person I can tolerate.The negative aspects I can mention are all fairly standard for the genre. There's a lot of plot holes, story threads that aren't followed up on (or at least satisfactorily), and of course the premise. Part of this can be chalked up to the run time. At 89 minutes, it is a little light on story and character development, but then again it didn't exactly need to be complex. Overall, this was much more fun than I was anticipating. It's by no means a good movie, but it's pretty entertaining for what it is. When all is said and done, there's a lot worse ways to spend your time. Also, they do explain what the title means, in case you were wondering.

Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) is a con man, recently released from Prison, is offered a substantial amount of money for one more job. Jack and his wife receive a notice that their house is under foreclosure. This job will free Jack from his predicament. Jack doesn't realize that illegal weapons have been secretly stored in the back of the truck. Jack is in the fight of his life, not only to get paid, but to save his family as wellPatrick Swayze is a man I greatly admire. I always felt he was a very solid actor, but his star power had begun to really fizzle out at this juncture. Black Dog looks and feels like a STD film, but it actually got a theatrical release (!) While there have been bigger bombs than this one at the box office, this one was pretty much a bomb, by making only 12 million. Black Dog cares more about truck carnage, than story coherency. It has plenty of crashes, chases, but I didn't care about any of it, because the story was so poor. We get mystical mumbo-jumbo involving The Black Dog, and it's filled with awful country music, and predictable twists. Be prepared for many jokes when it comes to Randy Travis's character. At one point, Patrick Swayze says to him "You should be a professional singer" How lame can you get? Not only do we have to endure Randy Travis's horrific acting skills, but an unbearably hammy Meat Loaf, who is so OTT, he should be ashamed of himself. I cringed whenever he was on screen. Patrick Swayze does what he can, but he has crappy material to work with. He is watchable as he always is, but this is one of his forgettable performances. It's not his fault, though. His character is written horribly, and he just looks ashamed to be in this film, not that I blame him. We also get one of those annoying false endings. I was relieved this movie was over, and to get a false ending, with a film that wasn't exactly asking for it. It annoyed meFinal Thoughts: Do yourself a favor and skip it. Not even die hard Swayze fans can get much out of this one. I love cheesy movies, but this has no entertainment value. It's a really bad movie, and one I'd suggest you stay away from3.6/10

I must have watched this movie dozens of times and each time I find something I never noticed before or wasn't paying attention too, During the whole gun running trip Patrick is driving a Peterbilt with what looked like a standard 48 foot dry box. They show an action scene driving down a state highway. When it is reported to the FBI and DEA it is stated that they were wrecking on an Interstate Highway. The closest scene I have noticed that looked anywhere like or near NJ was just before the show down and the truck was driving up the helix coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel. For that to happen they would have had to be coming out of NYC. Last but not least when the exchange is being made and Travis is up in the crane the load is no longer in the over the road trailer and in a shipping container. Considering that they were supposed to do that in about 2 hours there was no way they could have off loaded the load off the trailer and placed it in to a shipping container.Overall I still love this movie and tend to watch it when ever it is on TV.

Most people look at Black Dog as a over the top, blow en action flick but this film is fun and had pretty good action. The film is about Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) an ex con that's trying to find a new life after prison life. His boss offers him a job driving a load across the country, he refuses. After a finding a legal document in his kitchen draw, his wife hid it from him. He agrees to do the job so he can save his house and life hood.Not known to Jack, his load contains illegal weapons that his boss is selling to gangs in the country. Jack gets to the truck stop when meets the boss Red (Meatloaf). Jack chooses the truck he wants to use to pull the load. Jack finally gets on the road with a guy named Earl (Randy Travis) in the passenger seat and two another guys named Sonny and Wes following at the rear in Sonny's car.Soon the trip gets rough and deadly, Red is working for Jack's boss and wants the load. But Jack doesn't give up and wants to put on a fight, soon its a dangerous game of cat and mouse across the country. To make matters worse the FBI and ATF are also on Jacks tale trying to stop him, to grab the illegal load.This is a very fun movie, Kevin Hooks keeps the action non stop as Jack is trying to get the load home. The special effects are fantastic and they really destroyed a number of semi trucks for the movie. The only downfall is the ending, the ending is pretty basic and sometimes even disappoints but apart from that the movie is pretty fun and very underrated. The soundtrack is also a great one.