Black Dog (1998)

An ex-con daredevil trucker must reinfect himself with white-line fever in order to save his wife and kid from nasty gunrunners in this enjoyably mindless, twisted-metal-fest from the director of Passenger 57. Longtime MIA action stud Patrick Swayze (who snagged the part after Kevin Sorbo had to suddenly vacate due to health problems) is even more expressionless than usual in the lead role, but helmer Kevin Hooks compensates with a seriously rocking country soundtrack, some pleasantly eccentric supporting characters (including erstwhile crooner Randy Travis and a way-over-the-top Meatloaf as a psychotic trucker preaching damnation by the dashboard light), and--most importantly--a whole lot of rolling iron getting smashed in spectacularly kinetic fashion. A low-down, down-home, cotton-picking flick that blows up real good. --Andrew Wright Amazon.com

 Very poor plot for reasonably good actors
Black Dog is about Patrick Swayze being an outlaw trucker. Meatloaf and Randy Travis both star in this as well.

I have a fairly high tolerance for silly movies, and I really like Patrick Swayze. So I'm willing to cut this movie a lot of slack. This review gives away a few plot points - but don't worry, none of them will be a surprise to you when you watch anyway :)

Patrick is a guy who accidentally killed someone while driving a truck. He saw the "black dog" - he in essence was driving for too long, spaced out, and ran someone over. I want to make a side comment here that I once drove off the road because I pushed myself too hard and drove while sleepy. It is SO important to take regular breaks while driving and to stop if you're tired.

So anyway, Patrick goes to jail, comes out, and now his wife is about to lose the house. He needs money and his corrupt boss offers to bail him out in return for running guns. Everybody in this movie is pretty much "all good" or "all bad" so there is little question who you cheer for.

The movie has probably every car-chase cliche in the book. Cars that crash burst into HUGE fireballs a la a nuclear explosion. Many jumps are worthy of the Dukes of Hazzard. They throw in a lot (probably too much) of arcane trucker jargon to give something cool to the film.

The plot is both predictable and exceedingly silly. I'll give an example from near the end of the film. Everything looks like it's wrapped up even though Meatloaf is still on the loose. So of course the cops tell Patrick "OK even though this huge criminal situation is wrapping up, we won't interview you or anything. Here, take this evidence-filled truck, with your wife and kid, and go drive around in it." This struck us as exceedingly silly. Oh, they give him his license back too. So there the family is driving around and sure enough, Meatloaf shows up in his own truck.

So there they are, chasing each other around a train yard. My boyfriend goes "OK so Meatloaf is going to die going head-on into a train". I'm saying "well given the nuclear level explosions of the past, he is going to die in a gigantic fireball". A few seconds later, Meatloaf goes head-on into a train and bursts into a huge fireball. It was just too funny :)

This is not nearly as engaging at Swayze's other movies. His other characters had a past and texture. Here he is very one dimensional. His relationship with his wife seems forced. The buddy situation seems forced.

I'm glad I saw this once, but unlike Swayze's other movies, this isn't one I'll be watching repeatedly. April 15, 2008

 black dog
as a truck driver there are lyths and legends this isnt one of them but it s a very good movie October 10, 2007

 Doesn't Live Up To Potential
I really wanted to like Black Dog I really did. Unfortunately it hovers between watchable and turn it off for most of the film. The few action sequences in the film are clever ideas however they do not leave the viewer with the same excitement as many action clips. I felt bad for the actors, almost all of which are very good, because the script is very bland even for an action. The characters are very 2 dimensional and are not very original. You have The Loner, The Feuding Cops, The Lovable Oaf, The Stupid Kid, Token Black Guy that will inevitably die, The Religious fanatic, The hostage mother and daughter, and the just plain rotten guy. Many plot details will seem very familiar as well. The fact is with so many road movies out there there is a high bar in which directors must compete with. Had a better Screenwriter at the helm and focused more on the characters with more and better action sequences this could have been a fantastic film but what we get is a very lackluster movie that you actually feel pity for. Pretty much a let down but if you must watch it give it a rental but don't spend your money as there is nothing here worth seeing again. July 15, 2007

 Beyond silly
I watch (and love) zombie movies, so my ability to suspend disbelief or to enjoy mindless mayhem is extremely high. I don't even mind Mr Swayze in the right film. Red Dawn or Point Break? Watch them anytime. Road House or Next of Kin? Well, maybe not all the way through, but I can always make it to the next commercial break if I'm channel surfing and I see one of them. But this is so absurd, with such endless data dumps where Mr Swayze has to explain to the other characters his own back story or the inner workings of truck brakes (yawn on both counts), and with villains who are beyond comic relief to being just Darwin award winners, that it's impossible to sit through. April 3, 2007

 Black Dog
Ithink Black Dog is avery good movie. It has losts of supense and twists to keep you wondering who is the bad is. I would reccomend it to anyone who likes suppense. March 8, 2007

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