Dog (Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin, 2022)

Jackson Briggs (Channing Tatum) is a former Army Ranger. He is anxious to get back into service, but various medical issues have held him back.

Finally, he is given a potential way back - to transport a former army buddy’s military dog, Lulu, to his funeral.

The only problem is that, like Jackson, Lulu is grappling with the traumas of her time in combat. She is aggressive, afraid of being touched, and wants nothing to do with Jackson.

As the unlikely pair head off on the road, will they be able to survive each other? Or will they end up helping each other to heal?

Channing Tatum is one of the last, true movie stars. It took a while for a lot of people to get onboard (myself included), but he has more than proven himself.

I have heard Tatum compared to a dog - in his emotional openness and seeming lack of comprehension. These are not criticisms, but key to Tatum’s appeal.

It is probably why he is such a hit in romance movies. Last year’s The Lost City was another great showcase, as he played Sandra Bullock’s oblivious but sweet-natured love interest. 

2022 also marked another career milestone - Tatum co-directed his first movie, and  fittingly, it was a movie about a dog.

Written and co-directed with his Magic Mike collaborator Reid Carolin, is a sensitive, empathetic portrait of two damaged creatures.

The dog performance is extraordinary. There is a level of emotional output and empathy in both the way the camera treats the dog/s, and the dog’s reactions. There are so many shots of Lulu gazing out of her mask, with those big brown eyes, that carry as much weight as Tatum’s performance. 

Despite her reputation in the beginning, Lulu is never treated as a monster. And despite the way the characters parallel one another, she is never anthropomorphised. 

There are moments early on that almost come off like jumpscares - Lulu lunging from out of frame, growling, destroying any prop or scenery that gets near her.

Lulu is always treated as a dog. There are no scenes where the dog is shown getting up to ridiculous hijinks. She has been trained for a specific role, and the film emphasises the way that has warped her understanding of the real world.

As a man trying to find purpose, Tatum is fantastic. We learn late in the piece that he has a family, but even before this information, Tatum’s performance conveys everything - a vaguely distracted, listless energy when he is a civilian, yet as soon as he sniffs an opportunity to get back into uniform, he is (relatively) disciplined and confident. 

While the movie is mostly a two-hander, Ethan Suplee (My Name Is Earl) and Kevin Nash (yes, the wrestler) are also great in smaller roles as, respectively, a fellow veteran who has rehabbed Lulu’s brother Nuke, and a paranoid marijuana farmer(?).

Despite the poster, the movie is not a genre piece - Turner and Channing this is not. 

Jackson is not a cerebral being, and the movie never talks down to him. The movie has empathy for him and shows him in all his flaws. 

What makes the movie work is that it never turns Lulu into a vehicle for Jackson’s rehabilitation - the movie is as much about the human learning to see Lulu as an individual being rather than some obstacle or trial he has to endure to get what he wants.

A genuine, human movie, Dog ends up being rather touching. It has been awhile since a movie like this moved me, and I do not think it is just because I am a dog person.

On this evidence, I am very curious to see what Tatum does next.