It follows the life of Enzo and his best friend, a race-car driver named Denny (Milo Ventimiglia), through the major events and changes in Denny’s life over the years. The film (which is based on the book of the same name by Garth Stein) is narrated by a Golden Retriever named Enzo (voiced by Kevin Costner) who is very wise beyond his years. I try to stay away from dog films that are too sad, but I make an exception for The Art of Racing in the Rain because its main dog character is so human in so many ways. It leaves us optimistic for the future ahead for the wounded warriors and for the people who told their story.The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019) via Fan Forum “Dog” is uneven in tone and quality but shows promise in the way Tatum and Carolin approach the story with care and heart. They also learn that those skills can have some value in a civilian life, as long as Briggs and Lulu learn to think differently about what they are trying to accomplish with them. Briggs learns that perhaps you don’t enter someone’s property the way you enter enemy territory, even if you think your dog might be there. Lulu knocks down a man in a hotel lobby only because he is wearing Middle Eastern robes. Interactions with two other vets also benefit from thoughtful performances.īoth Briggs and Lulu learn that the skills they relied on in the military might need to be un-learned, or at least kept in check. The always-welcome Jane Adams brings her delicate sensibility to a character who could easily have been caricatured. There are some surprising detours along the way, with some characters more interesting than the crunchy Portlandians. What we’re there to see is two wounded warriors, one human, one canine, heal each other, and that works well. One of the stops on the road trip is in Portland, and the tired jokes about too-twee Portlandia-ness and Briggs’ efforts to adapt in order to get laid wear thin fast. We do not need to hear Kenny Rogers singing “The Gambler” again when it comes to that song, it is time to fold ‘em. But Tatum lets us see it, without consideration for movie star vanity.Ĭarolin and Tatum play it safe in some other choices, though, with too many sun flares and postcard-pretty shots of the beautiful western countryside and some on-the-nose song selections for the soundtrack. Briggs tries his utmost to hide his struggle from everyone, including himself. Here we see his range, with more vulnerability than he has shown on screen before. We have seen him unhappy and under stress but almost always as a character who keeps those feelings hidden. In his previous films, Tatum has mostly relied on his natural all-American charm, a boy-we’d-like-to-have-next-door combination of confident strength and self-deprecating humor. Tatum the actor responds exceptionally well to Tatum the co-director (along with co-screenwriter Reid Carolin, both directing a feature for the first time). There will also be connections from the past, both in person and via an extensive, heartfelt, and very detailed notebook kept by Lulu’s Ranger handler. Of course, there will be mistakes and there will be trouble on the road from Oregon to Arizona by way of Los Angeles. But if Briggs can deliver Lulu with no mistakes and no trouble, he can get the approval he needs. “You’re asking me to take a dog on a plane to Arizona?” The officer responds, “I’m asking you to drive a Ranger to a funeral.” The dog is too unstable to fly indeed, Briggs is warned not to let her near any person or animal. After the funeral, she is scheduled to be put down.īriggs, who has said he would do anything to get back into the service, does not want to do this. Until the funeral, she is muzzled and on Prozac. She has sent three people to the emergency room and been deemed un-salvageable. The dog is Lulu, a sweet-faced Belgian Malinois who performed many brave rescue operations, but who now is so severely traumatized from being in a war zone that no one can go near her. Finally, an officer says he will authorize Briggs’ reinstatement if he will perform one task, delivering an Army dog to the funeral of a veteran who served with Briggs. Briggs needs sign-off from an officer to be readmitted to the Rangers, who call themselves “the Army's premier direct-action raid force.” He has been repeatedly turned down.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |