7 Dogs has all the money, stars and kinetic action you could want, but its vanity-project sheen cannot hide a painfully empty screenplay, observes Sreeju Sudhakaran.
Key Points
- 7 Dogs is an ambitious Saudi Arabian action thriller that uses lavish production values and recreated international locations to sell its globe-trotting story.
- Despite Adil and Bilall's kinetic visual style and some entertaining action, the generic screenplay and predictable twists keep the film from making much of an impact.
- Ahmed Ezz and Karim Abdel Aziz share an enjoyable camaraderie, while cameos from Sanjay Dutt, Monica Bellucci, Martin Lawrence, Giancarlo Esposito and Salman Khan add star power to the proceedings.
We have seen vanity projects made for lead stars. We have seen vanity projects made for political leaders. We have seen vanity projects made to justify controversial government decisions.
Now let's talk about a vanity project made by a country just to boost its tourism and invite filmmakers from all over the world to come and shoot there. All with a 'spare no expense' approach.
7 Dogs is that exact vanity project, made with the absolute blessing of the Saudi Arabian government. The story is even credited to Turki Al-Sheikh, who happens to be a government official there.
Global Thriller, Saudi Style
It is a globe-trotting action thriller where the 'globe' is contained within Saudi Arabia, where the movie's team has tried to replicate various cities like Mumbai and Los Angeles within its own borders. Basically, Saudi Arabia is trying to pull off a Ramoji Rao here!
Ironically, the actors chosen for the principal roles are from Egypt. That is on top of various high-profile cameos from other countries, including our very own Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan.
7 Dogs is directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, best known for directing Bad Boys for Life and the infamously cancelled Batgirl movie. If you have seen their released works, you know they are known for bringing a stylistic flair to shooting action scenes through innovative camera movements and kinetic editing.
In fact, the movie kicks off right in the middle of an action scene: a mid-air fight sequence involving a dead pilot, a plummeting aircraft, our two protagonists, Khalid and Ghali, and a ruthless assassin out to kill one of them.
Khalid (Ahmed Ezz) is an Interpol officer and Ghali (Karim Abdel Aziz) is the criminal he was sent to arrest. After getting the job done, Khalid plans to shift to a quiet desk job to appease his girlfriend, Rabab (Hana El Zahed), whom he is marrying in a few days.
However, he is instantly dragged back into the field to stop 'Pink Lady', a dangerous and fatal drug, from flooding into Saudi Arabia. The massive consignment is being smuggled by a mysterious organisation called 7 Dogs, where the 'Dogs' are actually its leaders stationed in various global cities.
Naturally, only Ghali can provide the necessary breakthrough to identify them. So Khalid teams up with Ghali and two other Interpol officers, Claire (Tara Emad) and Jessica (Sandy Bella), to hunt down each leader and find out exactly where the consignment is hidden.
Stylistic Approach
Like I said before while the movie desperately wants us to believe they are hopping across countries, their exotic destinations have all been recreated within the base country, and it painfully shows.
For example, during the entire Mumbai sequence, there is a glaring sense of artificiality in the sets, and the high-rise buildings carry a distinct Middle Eastern flavour. Not to mention the heavy, obvious use of green screens.
7 Dogs fares a bit better with its other locations.
Still, there is no denying the sheer richness of the visuals, particularly with some of the actual locations and buildings used, with the camera constantly sweeping over places just to show them off. This obsessive showing off bleeds right into the action scenes and visual aesthetics.
One frantic fight is covered entirely from a POV under the glass floor. Another kinetic shootout plays out through the lens of a GoPro. Many scenes rely heavily on aggressive MTV-style editing, occasionally splashed with neon lights or random anime inserts.
But was I actually having fun watching the movie play around with these visual tricks? Not really.
You cannot genuinely enjoy the ride when a director(s) is just aggressively showing off, rather than using those aesthetics to enhance the narrative and make the action moments more memorable. You know, like the John Wick movies do.
Predictable Plot
Ultimately, the lavish production values and kinetic shooting style feel like massive overcompensation for a completely run-of-the-mill screenplay. The plot is simply an excuse for the leads to chase one clue after another through multiple setpieces, with every single set piece ending in a mandatory action sequence.
In between, it haphazardly throws in the protagonists' dramatic personal backstories and somehow connects them to the ongoing events. Because why not?
And then comes the supposedly shocking final twist, which you can see coming even if you are a thousand nautical miles away from Saudi Arabia.
Sorry, but we have all watched way too many movies to fall for those kinds of 'surprises'. Funnily enough, a specific heist sequence heavily reminded me of Race 3, and so did the climax.
Dear director duo, I am not sure if Salman Khan ever recommended you watch that one, but it is certainly not the movie that should pop into a viewer's mind when watching your film.
Cast And Cameo
What actually works is the crackling bonhomie between the two leads. Ahmed Ezz and Karim Abdel Aziz are genuinely earnest and a lot of fun to watch together, particularly Aziz, and both hold their own remarkably well during the heavy action sequences.
The wild roster of star cameos is definitely one of the major highlights here, most of whom play members of the 7 Dogs. We get Sanjay Dutt, Monica Bellucci, Martin Lawrence and Giancarlo Esposito doling so.
I assume Ms Bellucci was paid the most, given she comfortably hogs the most screen time of the lot, and she is made to do the sultry act with panache. Giancarlo Esposito is basically just repeating his Breaking Bad act. Martin Lawrence is doing his usual Bad Boys routine.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Dutt was clearly told to do whatever he wanted, and he just gloriously hams it up. It is difficult not to crack up when he gleefully screams "Chocolate milk!" The movie needed more Dutt just for that hamminess he brings to the screen.
And then there is Salman Khan who pops up for the smallest cameo of them all, playing Johar, Khalid's contact in Mumbai. The kind of role that Ali Fazal did in Furious 7.
I watched the Hindi dubbed version of the film, and Bhai clearly did not bother to dub his own lines. However, whoever stepped in for the voiceover absolutely nailed that signature anglicised Bandra slang, matching his 'swag' almost perfectly.
In one specific fight scene, you have Salman, Sanjay, and the two main leads all tussling aboard an autorickshaw. It is one of the most eye-wateringly chaotic sequences I have ever witnessed. It was shot so frenetically I genuinely could not even figure out if the actual actors were physically present on set.
Come on, you get Dutt and Khan in the same scene, and you refuse to even let us see them properly? Do the makers actively not want Bollywood fans to watch their movie?
