GUEST EDITORIAL: A Brief Examination of the 2022 Movie "Dog"

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A Brief Examination of the 2022 Movie Dog

by Lewis Robinson

Some folks would describe the 2022 movie Dog as a comedy with an awfully big heart. It speaks to enormous themes, as comedies often do, by laughing when there is room to laugh. Even though Dog sees its audience heading to a funeral, its characters do all they can to lighten the mood along the way. Channing Tatum shines as a character who spends a lot of the movie growing up.

The General Plot

Channing Tatum plays a man named Jackson Briggs who desperately wants to get back into the Army Rangers, whose service injuries have rendered this possibility slim and as yet unfilled. It seems as though Briggs is unwilling or unable to consider how much more he could lose by readmittance into the elite fighting unit that often exists as America's vanguard entity during conflicts.

Though Briggs doesn't need a 1/2 ton truck rental, he does need to accomplish something before he'll be given another chance to get back into his unit. The price is to escort a service dog to the funeral of his master. Though he accepts, along the way he suffers from the limitations and setbacks that have been caused by his injuries. To his respect, he never seems to show any kind of self-pity. Rather, he keeps moving forward the best that he can. Luckily, he has a developing friendship to help him.

The Dog

Lulu is a Belgian Malinois that belonged to the fallen soldier whose funeral Briggs is to attend. As she is driven down the Pacific coast by Briggs, the two drive each other a little bit crazy. In their defense, they are hustling to make it to the funeral on time, which helps explain why they break some laws and engage in some general crazy behavior that lands them in several dicey scenarios, including some where they narrowly avoid death. 

Lulu is a dynamic character because she gives the audience different emotions. We see her own emotions at play when there is conflict with Briggs, who is quite emotional himself, at times. Lulu has had her own injurious past that has left her violent and, at times, uncontrollable and this is why Briggs is tasked with the difficult task of getting her to the funeral.  

When she is involved, the audience feels humor and happiness and, at times, they feel heartbreak. This character, like the movie as a whole, is capable of bringing the concepts of happiness and sadness into play in quick succession. That the vets have decided to put Lulu down after the funeral leaves a pit in the stomach of the audience, and even though Briggs has his final own say in the matter, the threat that hangs over Lulu is real and devastating.

The Point

The relationship between human beings and dogs has been the subject matter of many stories. Remember that Candy's dog from Of Mice and Men presented the audience with the impossible decision of shooting a dog who's simply living out the terrible end of an otherwise happy life or not. In Dog, Lulu's life also hangs in the balance and viewers don't want to see her destroyed, even though her violent past seems to dictate that she must be. 

Dog is a really funny movie with grown-up values. It is a compassionate look at life and death and making difficult decisions. At its core, it's the story of a man developing a strong bond with the animal whose care he has been entrusted with. As this breeds a lot of the movie's funny scenes. it also yields some of its most heartfelt.