Skip to content
Top Dog sets out the life of Billy Evans (Leo Gregory) early, showing hwo he sorts out a chav’s vociferous dispute in a Chinese takeway by delivering some non-fatal justice that ensures he will never trouble that establishment again. In fact, he’s cool as a cucmber which has been left in the freezer.
It’s Martin Kemp‘s second outing as director following 2010’s Stalker, released in the UK in October 2011 but never having been given any promotion (and I only heard of it for the first time now after looking it up). And as a child of the ’80s, I grew up to the music of Spandau Ballet alongside all the other great pop bands of the time.
The film is set in the East End of London, and early on there’s a local pub being extorted for £250 per week from some heavies, led by Mickey (Ricci Harnett) who, when Billy points out his disatisfaction at their activities, responds with “This is all a bit ‘Lock, Stock’ innit?”
Billy expresses that if he doesn’t leave the pub alone, he’ll turn over two of Mickey’s pubs or clubs. That said, since Mickey is thicky and doesn’t listen, it all starts to kick off and when Mickey’s establishments are vandalised, although there’s not actually that much damage done onscreen. A few tables and chairs are kicked over, but budgetary constraints clearly mean that the bar is untouched, as is the lighting, upholstery and so on.
However, the more that Billy tries to become ‘Top Dog’ over all the rest of the criminal fraternity, the more his life has a chance to completely spiral out of control.
Top Dog is a reasonable way of passing just over 90 minutes. It’s not essential, and it’s not rubbish. It’s just okay. And the storyline’s outcome is very predictable. There’s also the problem of lots of characters clearly distrought and crying, yet none of them have tears down their faces.
The two leads snarl along in amusing fashion to the point where you think they’re going to crack up, but the best actor here is Vincent Regan (most recently seen in the overhyped and stupidly-named Philip Glenister drama From There To Here), who is always nicely chilling when he’s onscreen in most things, and he delivers that here, but he doesn’t get a chance to do so until the third act.
Still, look on the bright side. The role of Mickey was going to be played originally by Danny Dyer, but the sinking ship that is Eastenders sailed away with him.
Oh, and it’s also nice to see a film not afraid to step up the violence so that it gets an 18-certificate. However, there’s not a great deal that would tip it over a 15-cert, but the use of drugs in the film also tips it over into an 18.
And, in addition, the role of Topless Waitress goes to Page 3 model and Celebrity Big Brother star Rhian Sugden, whose heaving bosom is on display in Mickey’s club.
The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 theatrical ratio and there’s no issues with the print at all, as you’d expect from a modern film, with everything onscreen sharp and details. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma screen with a Samsung BDP1500 player.
Audio-wise, while the sound is in the usual DTS 5.1, there’s nothing to excite the rear speakers, while the front ones are mainly full of cockney shouting.
The extras are as follows, all of which are in HD:
- Behind the Scenes (24:58): A standard making-of with chat from the cast and crew mixed in with film clips and work-in-progress footage.
- Deleted Scenes (4:12): Just two of them, neither of which need putting back in. It’s a shame these haven’t got any subtitles, as there’s a lot of mumbling from the actors.
- Stunts/Fights (7:14): Showing how the fight scenes were choreographed. It’s a short and sweet featurette.
- Audio commentary: from not only the director Martin Kemp, as the extras menu would have you believe, but also Writer Dougie Brimson and producer Jonathan Sothcott.
There are subtitles in English only, a miserly 12 chapters – the same figure a lot of other distributors use these days, sadly, and the menu features a mostly static cover image, but with some clips behind the featured characters, all set to a brief piece of the theme music.
Top Dog is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
6 10 7 3 |
| OVERALL | 6.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 96 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures
Cat.no.: 8297484
Year: 2014
Released: May 26th 2014
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Martin Kemp
Producer: Jonathan Sothcott
Screenplay: Dougie Brimson
Music: Haider Zafar
Cast:
Billy Evans: Leo Gregory
Mickey: Ricci Harnett
Watson: Vincent Regan
Samantha: Dannielle Brent
Julie: Lorraine Stanley
Graham Hawkins: George Russo
Sal: Susan Penhaligon
Cod: Tom Davis
Tubby: Francis Pope
PJ: Johnny Palmiero
Stretch: Gary Lawrence
Dan: Jason Flemyng
Steve: George Sweeney
Alfie: Mackenzie Goldberg
Topless Waitress: Rhian Sugden
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.