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67 reviews in total

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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
surprisingly entertaining dumb action, 16 March 2004

Author: zimbo_the_donkey_boy from Calumet, Mich.

I am no fan of the stars of this movie or a truckdriving buff or interested in country music (not that that's overly relevant.) I borrowed this tape with low expectations but was happily surprised by how entertaining it was. What has happened to Patrick Swayze? I thought he did a good job acting in both Donnie Darko and now this. THIS film is what goofy, illogical action flicks are supposed to be. This isn't simply a music video stretched out to an hour-and-a-half. This director actually knows how to make a movie. The plot ain't deep but there IS a plot, which is important. The ideas are dopey but the actors aren't simply laughing their way through but rather they treated this like a serious work. The actress who plays Swayze's wife has a style which usually annoys me but she, too, was ok in this thing. Even the little bits of country music didn't bother me. A stupid finale? Sure, but even that was fun. Wow.

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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Wonderfully cheesy popcorn flick, 21 January 2001

Author: Verbal-17 (culverjames@hotmail.com) from Spokane, WA

When this movie came out, the usual pooh-poohers whined and complained about how it had a dumb script, a paper-thin plot, and cardboard characters. I wanted to smack them all upside the head for stating the obvious. Duh! That's the whole point! Patrick Swayze has made some very good dramas (Ghost, City of Joy), and some very cheesy ones (To Wong Foo) and he knows the difference. Anyone who tries to take this movie seriously is missing the point. This one is a terrific guilty pleasure, with over-the-top performances by Swayze and his musician co-stars (Meat Loaf, Randy Travis), and some spectacular chase scenes complete with some truly cheesy touches (every automobile that crashes explodes, regardless of whether the gas tank is actually damaged or not). Trust me, this one's worth checking out, as long as you check your brain at the door.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Swayzerific! Two appendages upward!, 20 April 2005

Author: craZyforswayZ

Patrick Swayze shines in one of the best films in the truck-driving genre. The main character Jack Crews (Swayze) plays an ex-con/truck driver/plaid shirt enthusiast who gets more than he bargained for! Literally. In effort to make some much-needed money for his poor family, Crews bargains with a small arms dealer, played by Meat Loaf. Crews agrees to deliver the shipment for Meat Loaf in exchange for some cool cash. As you may have figured out by looking at the movie cover, Crews encounters hordes of inept henchmen along the way. Fortunately for Jack Crews, their vehicles explode easily. Still, Crews n' Company face many action-packed twist and turns on their journey. Swayze gives a spectacular performance; deserving of the either an academy award or employee of the month. I would recommend this film to anyone with eyes.

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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Meatloaf, burning diesel and one angry black dog!, 3 July 2006

Author: Benjamin Wolfe from USA

No truer words, Swayze looked weathered. But I guess some truckers just do. I sort of enjoyed the story, the beginning definitely ignites the rest of the action. This has some 'skill' linked-up in the driving, I learned a couple cool things about Big Rigs, that I didn't realize before however, I haven't seen diesels doing stuff like that since, 'Breakdown' 'CONVOY' or 'Duel'. Patrick is pretty much always fun to see act in any movie that he is in, other than the banter back and forth from the Evil-Graeme Beckel's character, who had taken his wife (played by Brenda Strong, the woman walking down the street only in a 'bra' that caused 'Kramer' from Seinfeld to crash his car T.V.s Seinfeld) and daughter, then making it through that Hellish chase situation and accident, only to lose a new found friend 'Sonny' the F.B.I. man, suddenly being sideswiped by The heavier-weight-coupon clipping-Jimmy Swaggart-wannabe-evil boss Singer rock star/actor Meatloaf at the end of this flick, Jack (Swayze) can't get an even break. However this is how most big budget Studio production houses usually take it into their hands to change a movie script until the believable is now ridiculous, usually at the end of a movie. Kind of like when Sidney J Furie made "Superman IV" and the Studio execs slashed his budget in half...this time however at pretty much the last minute, before scene shooting got started.

But Blackdog is entertaining and fun,the cast is a great cast. Heck with a good beer it gets even better.

But please if you must drink, stay at home and be nice to those around you.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Very Underrated, 22 January 2005

Author: death0915 from United States

I saw this movie on cable and never saw it in theaters but it was on at 2:00 am and I had a test in my Philosophy class. I said "screw the test" and watched this movie.

I have never been a fan of Mr. Swayze. Didn't see Dirty Dancing or that movie where he plays a tough bouncer. Didn't want to. But this movie is very good for what it is worth. First of all, I compare the storyline to Smokey and the Bandit....except minus the humor and lamentably the actors. The movie is about a ex-con trying to save his house by driving a truck full of illegal weapons across the eastern seaboard. You've got some great people in this movie +Patrick Swayze: he looks like he could be a truck driver +Randy Travis: who I admit I didn't recognize with the beard. I have no idea why he grew it +Possibly 50 Cent's brother. No doubt..when you see this man (who isn't related) you'll hear Wanksta begin playing +And the best Bloated Bible Thumping Meat "Old Ass Bat Out Of Hell" Loaf..who I cant believe actually CHOSE that name. This movie is not geared towards film buffs nor does it pretend to do so. This movie is for those who love the road and Cannonball Run (the first one only, jeez) or Smokey and The Bandit(Numbers 1 and 3..Dom Deluise and that retarded elephant killed number 2) The rest of the characters are a joke (especially the FBI agents...ever seen Pardon The Interruption?) but this movie is nothing more than an exciting and hard to stop watching road classic. Plus I live near where they drive the truck through (how about some love for South Carolina and N. Carolina looks amazing in the movie) So In conclusion, don't put down your Dead Poets Society or your Good Will Hunting for this, but sit back with a beer and enjoy this modern classic.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Run for your life - it's Smokey & the Bandit 4!!!, 23 January 2002
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Ex-con Jack Crews is offered an one-time job to drive a truck dross-country and deliver it's load of stolen guns on time. Despite having lost his licence he takes the job for the money. However once he starts his trip with an escort he finds that the original holder of the guns is trying to not only get paid for the weapons but also steal the load back. Crews finds himself trying to avoid police and criminals alike to get the job done.

Who said they don't make Smokey and the Bandit movies anymore?! This mixes both elements of those movies with modern thriller strands. The plot is therefore pretty mixed. It starts out ignoring the fact that Crews is carrying illegal weapons and ignores the moral issues this may throw up regarding the film painting him as a good man, it then focuses on big truck action with plenty of cars, trucks, jeeps blowing up and skidding all round the place. The second half keeps some of this action but it realises that it needs to end with Crews being a good guy and suddenly the guns issue is brought up and it looks for a "happy" thriller style end. The plot is quite unlikely - Why did Red suddenly seem happy to steal this load - he'd never done it before, and the "twists" aren't exactly a surprise. The action is distracting for the most part - but overblown spectacle doesn't replace genuine excitement, and, as Burt Reynolds discovered, how many times can you watch a truck crash before it gets old.

The performances are not great. Swayze is poor and just has a pained expression on his face throughout. Meat Loaf is a not so much a meatloaf as he is a huge glazed ham - he overacts and looks bugeyed like he was in one of his videos. Charles Dutton and Stephen Tobolowsky aren't great but their odd-couple interplay at least makes them interesting. The rest of the cast are familiar faces (Randy Travis, Gabriel Casseus etc) but don't really have very much to do.

Overall it's quite enjoyable because the action scenes are quite good. The story is daft and the actors don't have much to do but the sheer spectacle of it covers the whole for most of the film. Almost. The final five minutes is dumb and typical of the film's sense of spectacle over substance.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Great Action, Great Thrills!, 9 September 2007

Author: killbill_28 from Australia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

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.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Funny action film., 3 August 2007

Author: Paul Andrews (poolandrews@hotmail.com) from UK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Black Dog starts as just out on parole truck mechanic Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) is called into the office by his boss Cutler (Graham Beckel), he tells Jack he's got a job for him to drive a truck from Atlanta to new Jersey & he'll get paid $10,000 for it. Jack isn't keen on the idea since he has no license & wants to stay out of trouble for his families sake, at home that night Jack finds a foreclosure letter hidden by his wife from the bank who are going to repossess his families house. Amazingly they owe the bank $9,000 so that $10,000 he was offered just hours before suddenly looks very tempting. Jack accepts the job but soon finds himself hauling a lorry of guns which are being tracked by the FBI & local redneck scumbag Red (Meat Loaf) wants to hijack the truck & steal them for himself, I guess Jack is just having one of those days...

Directed Kevin Hooks Black Dog is a cheesy but sort of fun action flick that could have been better but also could have been worse. The somewhat predictable script by William Mickelberry & Dan Vining doesn't take itself too seriously & feels like an extended version of the final climatic truck chase from Mad Max 2 (1981) in the sense Jack has to protect his truck from all sorts of marauding bad guy's, obviously Swayze is no Mel Gibson & the two don't compare in terms of excitement or quality but that's what I kept think while I was watching it. The character's are clichéd & one dimensional but they serve their purpose well enough, there's some alright one-liners including a funny one where a bad guy ends up splattered on the road & Swayze says 'Eeww, roadkill'! That line alone is almost worth watching this for. It certainly moves along at a brisk enough pace, you've got your bad guy's & you've got your good guy's as well as those caught up in the middle & you know what I actually thought Black Dog was pretty fun, it's not art but it's entertaining & how can you not like a film in which the main villain is Meat Loaf & the main hero is Patrick Swayze? You can't & it's as simple & straight forward as that.

Director Hooks does alright, some of the truck crashes are impressive although the actual chase scenes lack a little spark, they are OK but not quite as exciting as I'd have liked. There's not much violence apart from a few shoot-outs & a fight at the end. Talking of the end even though Swayze has been hauling a lorry of guns & making lots of things blow up the FBI give him back his license, they let him go scott free, they take care of his $9,000 debt & let him drive the truck to the police pound. Isn't that a bit, well, generous? I mean he beat Cutler up didn't he? That in itself is assault & it doesn't matter if the guy he beat up is a scumbag either, also what about all the destruction he caused? Surely he broke the terms of his parole somewhere along the way, didn't he?

Technically the film is fine, it looks like it had some money spent on it although it doesn't quite look like a mega budget affair. The acting is OK, Swayze looks bored & embarrassed, Meat Loaf is Meat Loaf while Charles S. Dutton puts in a funny performance as FBI agent Alan Ford (Ford? Trucks? Is that meant to be an in-joke because I ain't laughing guy's!).

Black Dog is a silly, cheesy & amusing way to pass 90 odd minutes, it's a light hearted action flick using big trucks. It's watchable enough for sure.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Corny and predictable, but harmless enough, 1 April 2003

Author: Rob Taylor (Rob_Taylor) from London

I have to say that it's been a while since I saw a Patrick Swayze movie. He seems to have done the John Travolta disappearing act. He's not the best actor in the world, anyway, and he certainly wasn't challenged by this film. But he certainly is looking OLD!

That said, the movie is entertaining enough in a "See how many exploding vehicles we can cram into it" kind of way.

Meat Loaf, although immensely entertaining, is hopelessly miscast as the villain. It's just impossible to take him seriously. He was much better in Fight Club. Here he has about as much menace as Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazzard.

The movie is predictable, but entertaining. It even has the two cops who start out hating each other becoming best buddies.

However, they missed the obvious opportunity at the end to have "The Black Dog" come for Meat Loaf's character. It would have made the movie even cheesier, but more fun. The ending, as it stands, is rather dull.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Very unrealistic, but action-packed, 21 October 1998

Author: Craig Porter from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

I really enjoyed this movie. I do prefer intelligent thrillers, but I don't mind unrealistic stuff if it's good. It was surprising to see Patrick Swayze was in this movie, seeing that it's so unrealistic and it's what would seem like a fool's errand in the eyes of the critics, but I credit his performance. It is about a truckie who is driving a truck filled with firearms, while guys come along, try to kill them, and get the guns. Meat Loaf's acting performance wasn't great, he should have just made a contribution to the soundtrack, and I thought he was over-the-top at the end, racing a truck, wildly raving and chanting bible verses. But the action scenes are good, despite the unrealism. Explosions happen when they wouldn't normally, and shooting people doesn't seem to do anything but make them wince. At one stage, Patrick Swayze is beating a guy up on the truck, and Meat Loaf comes along in his ute-type vehicle, and shoots him in his arm. He winces, but he keeps punching with the same vengeance and strength as before. Despite lack of credibility, it was an exciting adventure and was a film about truck-driving, which I have never actually seen in a movie before. Overall, it was great and the chase scenes are very well-done sometimes. If you aren't expecting too much and don't mind unrealistic things, and you like action movies, see this.

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