ironhorse_iv
Beware of Top Dog. This movie is ruff. Directed by Aaron Norris, and starring his brother, martial artist and internet meme badass, Chuck Norris. The movie tells a cop, Jake Wilder (Chuck Norris), whom is force to partner with a police dog, Reno; when the dog's handler was killed by domestic terrorists. Now, Jake and Reno must stop the domestic terrorists from attacking a conference on unity that the Pope is attending. Can they stop them, or will the terrorists win out in the end? Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say this movie is very unoriginal. It is way too similar to other buddy cop dog films in the past, like 1989's K-9 and Turner & Hooch. The movie pretty much used every cop clichés in the book as well; just really badly. First off, you got the two main characters, that the film pretty much want the audience to believe, are the odd couple. Still, surprising, they act, way too similar to each other. In terms of personality, they tend to follow the same pattern; which is both, being unpredictable loose cannon that often break the laws that they are trying to enforce, who often anger, their superior officer, Ken Callahan (Clyde Kusatsu). Honestly, the movie would have work, better, if one of them, were the straight-laced stickler for protocol, the other was the cowboy cop, but no; the movie doesn't do that. First off, you got a dog that doesn't even look like a police cop, at all. He looks way too cute, to a tough, believable train police animal. He looks like he's in the wrong movie. Shouldn't he be herding sheep in some odd Warner Bros cartoon? One of the biggest problems with Reno is how quiet, the dog is! Since, he's so inaudible, the movie felt that the dog scenes needed a little more sound. So, they redub Reno with a human being. The person doing sound effects for the dog was terrible at his/her job. Its sounds more, like them, masturbating, oddly than anything else. I also didn't like the home alone like booty traps that the dog set up for the bad guys. It really conflict with the rest of the film. Honestly, I don't know, who is this movie is made for! It looks like a kid's movie, but the movie does go a little over the top with the violent with people getting shot in the head, and car explosions. Many people dying in a bombing at an apartment complex, doesn't mixed well with goofy slapstick humor of the rest of the film. Also, the movie has way too racism overtones to be a kid's film. Anti-semitic rants doesn't match up, with the rest of the corny childish animal humor. I really hate the whole dog fair montage scene. It's pretty much filler, since it doesn't advance the story. Very pointless. It's like they added that scene, because they forgot that they were trying to make a movie that parents would bring their kids to. It seem so out of place. Surprising, unlike the other film versions that has the dog do messy things, the dog isn't the slob, here. It's Chuck Norris's character. It's really hard to believe that Chuck Norris's character would be, this lazy, and still be able to kick ass with Chun Kuk Do. If this was real life, he would have a really hard time, do roundhouse kicks, due to him, being overweight. The movie does have alright, fighting scenes, but the slow motion stunts, make it a bit implausible. The fight with the clowns was somewhat entertaining, but as much as I love Chuck Norris as an action star; I really don't know, if the action film's audience would find this interesting. The movie also have the ill-timing habit of being release, a few days after the 1995's Oklahoma City Bombing. This, pretty much, kill the movie, since the movie had a domestic white-supremacist terrorist bombing plot, going for it. Overall: This roundhouse movie lost its kick. This movie has no bite to its bark. It's pretty much, didn't live up to the woof. I don't recommended watching. I guess, I just dog-tired of films like this.
lost-in-limbo
Chuck Norris partnered up with a dog… a shaggy dog… a decorated police dog. Comedy gold! Coming late to party, as this novelty was popular in the late eighties with films like "Turner and Hooch" and "K-9". Aaron Norris would direct his brother in this asininely light-hearted (well not all the time) vehicle that would see him going after some very incompetent militant white-supremacists looking to make an explosion. And didn't Aaron Norris like his explosions with cars flying off the ground! One thing though these bad guys were hopeless. I use to think the white-supremacists in Eastwood's "Pink Cadillac" were the most inept I've watched, but there's another contender with "Top Dog". Norris' combination with the dog Reno makes for many amusingly charming situations. "You ate my chicken you mangy mutt!" But really it Norris tackling Neo Nazi white power is where the fun is at. Watch as he simply pummels these bad guys (which takes almost an hour), in something that turns out like a live action loony toons outing. However before the pummelling begins these sour face bad guys simply like to rant about white power and stand around looking mean while constantly nodding at each other. Norris is one busy copper. An arrogant, sloppy and gung-ho one too. Let's not forget a mummy's boy. His lead-up work in trying to figure out what's going on is rather hilarious, because everything feels like its made up on the spot hoping the clues would pop up than researching it. Then again if that happened we wouldn't get the heart-stopping climax of tension, laughs and someone riding a bike as fast as they can. The cast are all game with Michele Lamar Richards, Clyde Kusatsu, Timothy Bottoms, Francesco Quinn and John Kerry. Norris phones it in, while it's Reno who steals the show. There's even time mid-way through for Reno to take a break from the investigation to go to a dog show and mess about?! Aaron's direction is sturdy, but plain despite the acrobats where there's a cheap TV feel about it."Sit your rights down".
Meaghan Edwards
Being a huge, lifelong dog fan, I wanted to see this movie when it originally came out, but unfortunately plans to see it were dashed. 15 years later I finally was able to get a hold of a copy while I was out shopping at Zellers, and I'm glad I did.It was what I expected; over the top, with plenty of laughs, and better than I expected it would be. It very much reminded me of Turner and Hooch and K9. Even if you aren't a Chuck Norris fan, the brilliantly trained dog or dogs (often several dogs are used for several behaviours in shows and movies), is the star of the show and worth seeing it for Reno alone. It's not too often you see Briards being featured!
Roger Franks
Not a nail in Chuck Norris' career, as one reviewer put it. I come to the defense of this nice little film for the strong message it carries. Anyone who was a fan of "Walker, Texas Ranger" can certainly see the core values of Chuck Norris in this film. Mister Norris is a man of great integrity and strong human values. He accepts diversity and from watching him, tolerates no bigotry at all. That's the message I appreciated so much in watching top dog, although the vehicle used could have been better executed. In a world where diversity should be the rule of the day, and learning from our past a virtue, Mister Norris, like a lot of us, sees the need to remind people of our past and what we should strive for in the future. It's one of the reasons I regularly watched Walker, to see the triumph of good over evil. More films like this, with a strong message are needed. Film is a medium, not only to entertain, but to educate us. That education could be for good or bad. Mister Norris chose the good, and I applaud him for that, and his integrity.
