Review of TOP DOG

TOP DOG

Sergeant LOU SWANSON is investigating a hate-crime bombing. His police dog, RENO, a Briard, leads him to a moored boat where Lou finds explosives. Unfortunately, neo-Nazis find him, and shoot both him and the dog. Miraculously, Reno survives.

Switch to detective JAKE WILDER (Chuck Norris), who is grumpily awakened by his chief, KEN CALLAHAN and ordered to find Lou's killers. "I'm on suspension," Jake says, but to no avail; the suspension is canceled. To his further disgust, Jake, a loner, must work with a partner, someone as brilliant and efficient as Jake, but also as insubordinate.  In walks an attractive police officer, Lieutenant SAVANNAH BOYETTE, but she isn't his new associate. Rather, he's to work with the dog, Reno.

It turns out the bombing and murders are due to a nation-wide neo-Nazi conspiracy led by people with unsubtle names like OTTO DIETRICH. Their plan is to combine various hate groups, and bomb a ecumenical brotherhood meeting. They trap a Catholic Bishop, a rabbi, and some Indian looking guy with a pink yarmulke in a limousine with a bomb hidden underneath. Aha, but they haven't reckoned with Jake and Reno.

Reno is the real star of this movie.  The dog follows complicated orders, knows to bite through Jake's bonds without being told, and in general puts Lassie to shame. Why in the world do Lou and Jake feed him jelly donuts; don't the people in this movie know that's not healthy for dogs? And since when do police dogs wander the streets without a leash?

Otto et al need to learn the rules of successful villainy. For example--don't tell an underling to kill the hero and then you walk out of the room. Kill the hero yourself.

Jake, of course, had to disarm the bomb under the limousine. Which wire should he cut, the red or the green? I voted for the red. He doesn't get the girl in the end, but he does get the dog.

Apparently Chuck Norris is a creationist. I don't expect much from karate-expert actors, but a little intellect would be nice.

The movie has a nice though generic anti-bigotry message, but also implies that it's okay for a cop to ignore due process (by not waiting for a search warrant) if he's sure he's in the right.

This is a funny movie. It's easy to rip it apart because of all the foolishness, especially involving the dog, but the combination of action/violence and comedy make for a good workout movie. I give it ++++. It will get your pulse up to a run.