LIKES: The Acting Is Fine The Soundtrack isn't bad Camerawork The Dogs The Portrayal Of PTSD There Is Some Heart Summary: When it comes to movies like this, I'm not usually expecting the best acting. This production brought out some decent moments, though, with each character feeling realistic, accurate, and a bit grounded, given the odd story they are in. Eckhart plays his usual gruff self, struggling to get out of the monotone emotions in this film, but still manages to add that hero element. The secondary characters accomplish what they have to; nothing too memorable, but nothing too major to stamp out in terms of bad acting. Though it is the dogs I find as the best of the bunch. I am biased towards animals, but the dogs showed some great training in what they accomplished, the lead dog being quite a character that had me chuckling a bunch as I watched them navigate the streets. In regards to the rest of the film, the movie has some other qualities that I like to see in a film. For one, the movie has some good camera and sound editing coming together, with plenty of movement, angles, and filters to give a gritty environment that feels at home in this crime film. With plenty of loud sounds to tax your ears, and a heroic soundtrack that is utilized at just the right parts, you get the classic recipe being followed to motivate the cop legacy to continue on. But where the movies of the '70s-2000s were all about one angle, City of Wolves decides to add a little more depth to this series that I typically only see in the shows. A common theme of this movie is PTSD, and I found that they did a nice job respecting the disease and the consequences that come with it. It's used in a storytelling way, holds a lot more merit, and holds some key elements important to showing off the scars that preceded this story. And because of those elements, this cop film still retains the heart that this genre of movies loves to display, giving us a sentimental look at those who serve. DISLIKE: The Plot Is A Mess The Character Usage Is Odd The Action Is Little/Lacking Feels Very Condensed Not As Many Cool Tricks Long-Winded At Times Very Anti-Climactic Summary: Where the movie starts to lose ground for me, is in the plot. Muzzle feels like the start of a book series, but with all the juicy details reduced to Spark Notes. An underlying mystery that lies down a rabbit hole, the movie promises to take us on a trip to find the supposed orchestrator of this mess. While it accomplishes this a little, the plot is just messy, a complicated bunch of plot sections strung about with intertwining arcs that are very inconsistent. It's disjointed, rushed, and inconsistent, with characters not finding stable ground to stand on before we shift to another major event. And going so fast, there is little time to process the mess and keep engaged in the movie like I usually like to see in my action film. The character usage is still very odd, with so many big names, people, and even the dog getting these random moments of absence and then coming back with a vengeance that felt unfulfilling most of the time. This carried into the action part as well, with so many of the battles completing in mere minutes, and often in very generic ways. Realistically, yes, this film achieves it, but in a movie that feels it has so much Hollywood drama, such realism is not the cap I like in my action films. Without some cool tricks, strategy, and the choreography I like to see at times, the fights feel too fleeting in the big picture of the 90-minute run time. And near the end, it's a huge anticlimactic fight that feels vague, with limited details, wrap-ups, or even emotional fulfillment, even with a cliffhanger present. I'm not sure if all this editing and shortcut taking were due to budget, time, or the source material, but City of Wolves' heart could have beat so much more if it had more focus on a single plot with two smaller plots, or maybe more time as a series. The VERDICT: Muzzle: City of Wolves is a run-of-the-mill movie that holds just enough nods and emotion to be applicable to so many. A semi-realistic action-drama hybrid, it's a movie that should be manageable by most, with relatable elements that I applaud them representing such material in a way that is fitting for inclusion and not mocking it. With decent camera focus, acting that fits the bill, cute dogs, and that famous hero sheen, I like the intentions that this movie held. For me, the dislikes hit heavier, with the plot being too tangled and crammed into a short time period, that I was confused and found so much of the story weaker than I anticipated. Poor character use/transitions, an underwhelming finale, and a lack of the exciting action the trailers seemed to suggest left me feeling bored at times, with a cliché crime element that needed more organization and imagination to achieve the expectations I had set from the trailers. Is this worth a trip to the theater? In my opinion, no, as there is just not enough to do it, unless they decide to put the proceeds to police dogs, then go support them. My scores for this film are: Action/Drama/Horror/Thriller/Mystery: 6,5-7.0 Movie Overall: 6.0.

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