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Failing in his attempt to qualify for the Special Forces, a young soldier named Cooper (Kevin
McKidd) joins a training maneuver in the highlands of Scotland with the commanding officer Sgt. Harry Wells (Sean Pertwee). Together with the other soldiers, they have fun in
the exercise until they stumble upon the wounded Captain Ryan (Liam Cunningham), with his whole team, bloody and dead. Then they suspect there are monsters in the wild waiting
to eat them. As they encounter a ranger Megan, they learn with certainty that werewolves are active in the region especially during full moon. They come face to face with
tall, fierce and flesh—especially human—eating creatures, who they find out are half human and half animal. Realizing that there is no way out of the valley, the soldiers
replace their practice rifles with real guns as they struggle to defend their lives against the giant wolves until the sun is up.
In the tradition of Blairwitch Project, this is another horror film that treats the viewers with
a certain feel of "real scare," making them somehow suspend their disbelief that werewolves are for real. The film is a triumph in story telling, sustaining strange fears and
curiosity of the real werewolves until they are totally revealed towards the latter part. Though packed with too much graphic violence and gore, a dash of humor and hilarious
treatment of war-like encounters with the werewolves balance the stylish treatment making the audience glued to their seat until the very end.
The fresh outlook on werewolves in Dog Soldiers
can make people care more about human life. Unlike usual werewolves films wherein werewolves are at the center of the story, here the focus is on the victims and how they struggle to protect their precious lives. They do not turn into savages. They just kill beasts to defend themselves, though it is shown that werewolves morph from humans. Somehow the film makes one ponder how humans turn into beasts, making one realize that at times, it is merely because of circumstances and rarely their choice. The same is true with soldiers who kill, even dog-like monsters, for a noble reason. The film also shows that evil can come in human form (the Captain and the Pretty girl). Evil is shown as formidable but it can be defeated after a long hard fight. This is possible if there is the willingness to sacrifice and do what must be done to save others.
(Date reviewed: July 26, 2002)
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