By Rob N. LeDonne
If someone were to tell the masses back in 1999 that Justin Timberlake, that kid from N’Sync, would become a credible actor starring in respectable movies, odds are you would have shaken your head and shrugged it off.
Yet here we are, with Nick Cassavetes, who most recently helmed The Notebook, directing Timberlake and a slew of other young actors in Alpha Dog, one of the biggest cinematic surprises in quite some time. His coarse role in the film makes his boy band days a long and distant memory.
The story, which is based on true events, revolves around young thug Johnny Truelove (played by The Girl Next Door’s Emile Hirsch) the young and spoiled leader of a drug ring which includes a tattooed Timberlake.
In the beginning of the film, Truelove becomes enemies with Jake Mazursky a drug addicted screw-up played by a frighteningly convincing Ben Foster (Hostage, The Punisher).
Truelove’s gang goes over to Mazursky’s house, only to find his brother Zack (18-year-old Anton Yelchin) who they wind up kidnapping. From there, events spiral wildly out of control.
Also contributing brief but poignant performances are Bruce Willis (Truelove’s my-son-can-do-no-wrong dad) and Sharon Stone (the mother of the kidnapped boy).
The most compelling feature about the film is that it feels like it’s actually happening before your eyes. This is due to the fact it is shot documentary style, with fake interview clips peppered throughout the movie, featuring the actors in character answering questions straight to the camera.
All in all, Alpha Dog is a tightly produced, sad, edge-of-your-seat drama; the kind of movie you watch slack jawed and think of long after you’ve left the multiplex.
GRADE: A-
