"A neat idea, poorly executed" is my five-word review of "Burning Dog," a crime caper from writer/director Trey Batchelor. The idea is to shoot the entire thing from the first-person point of view (POV) of a hapless sap dragged into some twisted potboiler involving dirty cops, underworld thugs, computer hackers, Russian mobsters, cam girls and other L.A. denizens.
Think "Grand Theft Auto" where you're more the victim than the perpetrator.
The protagonist, known only as "Five," is never actually seen. He's played by Chris Todd for the POV camera work -- wearing some kind of rig, I'm guessing -- and voiced by Adam Bartley. All we know is he's a young video game designer (hint, hint) who goes into his favorite coffee shop, picks up a toy mysteriously left on the doorstep, and suddenly he's being chased by, literally, everybody. Apparently there was some kind of blackmail payoff that he unwittingly stumbled into.
The conceit is that everyone refuses to believe the obvious truth: that Five is an innocent interloper, and everyone would do well to just leave him alone. But the movie keeps coming up with excuses for him to get driven here and there, questioned, shot at, stabbed, etc.
The framing story is that he's being interrogated at police headquarters after all the excitement is over, and he and the hot-and-cold detective (Matt Bushell) are trying to piece all the parts of the story together. It still doesn't really make sense at the end, but I don't think it's supposed to.
In thrillers it's common to have a "MacGuffin" -- an object that is integral to the plot but the audience doesn't really understand what it is. Usually it's a key code, or plans for war, or whatever. In this case, Five is the MacGuffin.
He spends most of his time with two cops, Smythe and Wesson -- go ahead and make the obvious joke; everyone else does -- played by Greg Grunberg and Salvator Xuereb, respectively. Apparently they're dirty and this whole thing got started because someone has video evidence of them doing bad things.
Smythe is the more gregarious, volatile one while Wesson is wry and a tiny bit friendlier. They handcuff Five and drag him all around town, including to the house of Smythe's incongruently hot girlfriend, Julie, (Adrienne Wilkinson) who makes a living as a cam girl. (Google it.)
Eddie Jemison plays Eddie, a nasty piece of work and the other end of the blackmail bag. He's the target of a lot of short jokes. Also circling around the story are Braverman (Andrew Gilbert), a young 'black hat' computer hacker, Denon (Chris Butler), a very cool customer, Pat (Johnny Dowers), an older hacker, and Russian mobsters, although we only ever really meet Marek, known as "Blue Boots" for his neon-hued footwear.
This is Batchelor's first feature in the director's share after after three decades as a first or second assistant director -- a largely logistical role that has more with keeping the trains running on time than artistry. The film looks like it was shot cheaply on video, but there are a few cool scenes like a shoot-out in a warehouse where Five, Smythe and Wesson have to evade their pursuers room-by-room.
It's not an insult to say watching this movie is like playing a video game where the controls have gone wonky, and you're just along for the ride. In the end, though, it plays as a bunch of actors shouting into the camera and pointing guns.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5-4F989PF4[/embed]