The Good

The best movie of 2007 thus far.

The Bad

Paltry extras.

Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) leads group of young thugs that deal in drugs and a quest for power. They live in a privileged suburb and are heavily influenced by gangsta rap. Things get all too real when Johnny, who pushes everybody around, messes with Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster). Mazursky is the real deal. Having been in and out of jail, he has no designs on going back but he certainly isn't going to be picked on. After embarrassing Truelove when they fight, they begin a deadly game where each of them tries to assert the upper-hand. Eventually, it becomes clear that Truelove is out of his depth and in a stroke of fate, kidnaps Jake's younger brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) who just happens to be walking by the side of a road.

What starts off as a prank gets serious very quickly. Kidnapping carries a charge of 25 years to life, and even though Zack cozies up to Johnny and his crew (especially Frankie played by Justin Timberlake), the fact remains that Truelove and his team have still abducted someone. With almost non-existent parents and parents who even seem to encourage this behavior (Sonny Truelove played by Bruce Willis is a prime example), this good time eventually finds itself reaching a tragic denouement.

Features

A Cautionary Tale

The biggest problem with this featurette is that it's too short. I wish, since they didn't put much else on this DVD, that they would have gone more in-depth in this piece. It would have been nice to have found out about the real Jesse James Hollywood (who this story is based on), and also the lives of everyone else involved after being apprehended. As it is, we get a glimpse at the story of this film, but it plays more like a thumbnail, EPK sketch. Nick Cassavetes says that he feels the tale is about a loss of youth, he talks about how the characters were cast, and Ben Foster seems laugh when he recalls being beaten up by Sharon Stone. There's some good stuff here there just isn't enough of it.

Witness Time Table

In this section, they have listed out the 38 witnesses who saw Zack Mazursky with his abductors. They offer the witnesses main quote and then we see that section in the film. Unfortunately, this is little more than the movie in a more succinct form. While I liked this film so much I am happy with what Universal has put on it, I just think this story deserves more of "the treatment" on DVD.

Video

Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35:1. This movie is a very sun-drenched quality and considering it takes place in the suburbs of Los Angeles that makes all the sense in the world. Cassavetes employs documentary-like techniques, just so we never forget that this film we're watching is a true story. He puts titles on the screen and at all times seems like he's even offering his characters another way out of their dilemma. By utilizing the California landscape in this way, he seems to show a world where people allowed to have everything, can sadly conduct themselves anyway they want.

Audio

English and French Dolby Digital 5.1. English, Spanish and French subtitles. The audio here is loud and in your face but not all the time. It plays big but it's supposed to because that's the world that these kids have created for themselves. I sadly didn't watch this DVD on the greatest of TV sets (mine only has one speaker), but I did see the movie in the theater and it's apparent that they have leveled this disc to have the same experience. It would be nice however to screen this movie in HD-DVD just to be able to replicate the true bigness that this world calls for.

Package

The front cover of this DVD has the same artwork that was employed on this movie's theatrical release, I believe. We see all the main character's faces with young Jake Mazursky's planted squarely in the middle. The back features a tough guy shot of Truelove and Frankie, as well as some tiny shots from the film. There is a well written description, a Special Features listing, a cast list and technical specs as well. Overall, the packaging is solid but I look forward to be a bigger and better release at some point.

Final Word

What makes Alpha Dog such a great, powerful film is the realism that Director Nick Cassavetes allows his performers to bring to these roles. Also, there is just something sociologically interesting about seeing the effect of gangster rap on white kids from the suburbs. There are those who are into the music but like it more because that's what their friends are into. Then there are those who proceed to get into it as a lifestyle. Seeing young men scarring their bodies with meaningless tattoos and young girls being drawn to these figures, all playing out against the simple, understatedness of the Spanish designed tract homes that they live in, really plays well in the cinema.

This also doesn't ignore the subject matter which is very gritty and ugly for a studio picture. Mixing both comedy and tragedy Alpha Dog is an honest to goodness cautionary tale. The sad thing is that a lot of the people who will embrace this movie won't see the forest for the trees.

As an aside, should this film have sparked an interest in seeing more movies about youth culture gone awry, you might also want to check out Larry Clark's Bully. Both films are similar in theme and subject matter, they just handle it a little differently.

Alpha Dog was released January 27, 2006.