I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

When I bought this I was really looking forward to the combination of an Eddie Bunker (No Beast So Fierce/Straight Time, Animal Factory, Runaway Train) story directed by Paul Schrader and featuring Willem Defoe in what seemed a great combination. Unfortunately it's a substandard crime flick with meandering plot, over the top and outdated editing (Think Tony Scott a decade ago, only badly done) and a bizarre ending. I paid £1.00 GBP for a used Bluray and feel short changed. Only completists and Die Hards need view this poor offering.

RELEASED IN 2016 and directed by Paul Schrader, "Dog Eat Dog" chronicles events in the greater Cleveland area when a trio of loser ex-cons (Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe & Christopher Matthew Cook) is employed by a Mafioso to abduct the infant of a rival gangster.Schrader's films are often preoccupied with Christian religion and sexual obsession (porn, strip joints, prostitution, nudity, etc.), as verified by "Hardcore" (1979), "Cat People" (1982) and "Auto Focus" (2002). You can expect the same with "Dog Eat Dog" except that it mixes black amusement with its urban drama, sleaze and crime thrills. The movie's brutal, funny, ugly and quirky, but with a spiritual thread underneath it all. Think 90's crime drama/thrillers like "Pulp Fiction" (1994), "Mojave Moon" (1996) and "The Way of the Gun" (2000). It's not on the level of "Pulp," but it's more entertaining than the other two. Knowing Schrader, I suspect there's more in the movie than meets the eye and I may up my rating with repeat viewings. Then again, it may be wannabe hip/edgy tripe. You make the call. THE FILM RUNS 1 hour & 33 minutes and was shot in Northeast Ohio (Cleveland & Sheffield Lake) and Tampa, Florida (Restaurant & street scenes and night skyline). WRITERS: Edward Bunker wrote the script based on the novel by Matthew Wilder. GRADE: B-

When a movie by Paul Schrader comes out, you know it will entertain and be good......so what happened to Dog Eat Dog? He did'nt write the screenplay to this one, and maybe he should have. The film of three ex cons stealing and killing is not a film that the audeince can relate to or even feel for the characters. Hollywood loves to show realism by having actors do the coke thing. You know the scene, sitting at the table with a credit card sorting the coke out, then drawing it in thru the nose.....Been done a hundred times and its boring. But why does the film rate a "zero"? Because of the ending scenes. Nicolas Cage's character is handcuffed to a police car and dragged around at speed. The next scene we see him hi jack a car with an elderly couple. THe director does not want to explain how he got away? Or did he think the the paying public would not notice. Next, Cage is driving the car and a fog appears out of nowhere, and in this fog a police car appears with sirens blazing. The police had infra red see thru fog glasses. What a load of crap. All of the reviws are blaming Nicolas Cage fro his performance. The actors were all great. The producer,writer and director are to blame for this rubbish.. We are not stupid Mr. Schrader, you conned us into coming to see this movie. Shame on you all

Normally a Nicholas Cage movie is worth a look. I clicked on this through Netflix and got quite a surprise - this movie totally sucked! I gave it about an hour to get interesting, which it never did - so it got canned.The whole movie seems like a mere child running around with a camcorder, sneaking around recording people. Really quite lame.