Well, all the Tarantino elements were present : some good acting talent, an unusual and shocking story with barbaric characters, etc. However, it just doesn't work. For some reason there is no magic when these elements are mixed together and as a viewer you are not drawn into the story. You are more of a dispassionate observer watching a science experiment. Good for science, bad for film. After a while I lost interest in this film experiment and went elsewhere.

Despite his recent track record, Paul Schrader's overall contribution to cinema should not be scoffed at. He was, after all, responsible for penning three great Martin Scorsese movies (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ) and one okay one (Bringing Out the Dead), as well as directing the likes of Blue Collar, American Gigolo and Light Sleeper, all interesting movies in their own right. Of recent years, he's been stuck in the straight- to-DVD game, churning out schlock to help raise funds for his own underwhelming personal projects. Teaming up with cinema-dodging king Nicolas Cage for the second time (after 2014's Dying of the Light), Schrader's latest - an incredibly violent and misanthropic crime thriller called Dog Eat Dog - may just be worst thing the once- respectable writer-director has ever put out.Back in 1976, Schrader's script for Taxi Driver immersed us in the seedy and scum-laden underbelly of New York, a part of the world unseen by the majority of us, and demanded that we contemplate this world of our making. With Dog Eat Dog, Schrader seems happy to relax into a cliché-ridden world of motor-mouthed ex-cons, prostitutes in hotel rooms, and the "one last job" that will allow these anti- heroes to escape their life of crime. Cage plays Troy, the brains of the gang fresh out of prison. His friend Mad Dog (Willem Dafoe), has recently committed a double murder and certainly lives up to his nickname. Diesel (Christopher Matthew Cook) is the muscle of the group who, we are told, possesses great intelligence despite his ogreish appearance. They are rounded up by crime boss 'The Greek' (Schrader himself) to pull off a baby kidnapping, a job that could land them a handsome payday.Based on the novel by Eddie Bunker, which I haven't read, Dog Eat Dog feels like it has been thawed out from the 1990s, back when Quentin Tarantino's output was still influencing every low-budget, independent feature. With Cage and Dafoe turning their bonkers shtick up to eleven, it's clear that Schrader intended for this to be a comedy. Are we meant to laugh at a knife murder because the woman is overweight, or at Troy as he threatens to blow a woman's backbone through her belly? Apparently we are, although I can't imagine anybody actually raising a chuckle. Dog Eat Dog is an unpleasant and utterly aimless piece of trash, with scenes connected by a plot so thin that it feels like Schrader's finger is on the random button. There's a brief moment of tension when the gang find themselves in an increasingly hostile neighbourhood, but True Detective already did it with more pizazz 3 years ago. Above all, Dog Eat Dog is painfully boring, and even at just 90 minutes, I found my eyes constantly checking the running time.

I should have known better - Nicholas cage is a pretty weak actor (and I'm being kind) who's been lucky enough to be in a couple of half decent action movies - the rest of his films are complete rubbish and this is no exception. It ain't even going to bother wasting anymore time reviewing this - this dog has rabies, steer well clear.

I couldn't believe how this film started. I mean Paul Schrader, for Christ's sake? I had a "What the f..k is this?" moment. If the film had been like this for the rest of the duration, or never really would of improved, I would label it, an eat dogs..t of a movie. But luckily it does. This film, it's story, based on a novel by late ex con/RD actor, Bunker, a true Mr Blue, to me, was a crazy inane film, that's an intriguing mess, about three ex con losers, we don't necessarily like, or give a s..t about, especially's Dafoe's Mad dog, his murderous activities, where in their way, by their lifestyle of high drug taking and murder, their on their path to self destruction. The plot of the film comes halfway in, where before this, we have to endue all of our three's problems, bonding, boozing, sex play and in flashback, how our two mains met, where Cage's character, is some one, we'd expect him to play, Dafoe, the out of control one, here, a necessarily repellent character. When Dafoe, who desperately needs the money, is thrown an offer by the mob, to kidnap the baby, of a rival party, who hasn't paid up, our ill fated three take it, but it's doomed from the start, soon bringing the attention of the cops and the mob, where our ill fated three, have signed their own death warrant. Did I expect better from this film, yes? But it's trippy, indulging entertainment, Cage's demise, remembered the best, and the scenes prefore, after that fade in, diner shot. Dafoe is such a f..k up, and these great actors, give it enough clout, esp, Dafoe, but I have seen better from these two, where their black guy mate, the more quietly levelled, grounded, in control sort, was the most likable out of the three and it's not saying much. This movie is a wild ride, yeah, but it won't go in the Schrader archives. Sorry.