Straw Dogs

If I made this movie, I wouldn't be worried about Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour protesting the portrayal of the state and its fine citizens. I would be worried about him hunting me down and getting revenge!

James Marsden and Kate Bosworth star as David and Amy Sumner - a Hollywood screenwriter and a TV actress who head back to her Mississippi hometown to rebuild the family farm, while he works on a screenplay. Of course, the locals aren't all that high on this Jaguar driving writer with money to burn, especially Amy's old boyfriend, Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard), who has been hired with his buddies to work on the barn roof.

As Charlie seems to be intent on rekindling the old passions with Amy, and the rest of his crew tries to assert a bit of male dominance over David with good-natured teasing that is starting to go too far, the tensions between all are putting them on the path to a confrontation that will be as ugly as anything you have ever seen before.

When it comes time to stand up and defend his wife and house, will David be ready?

Who will snap first?

Writer/Director Rod Lurie (based on the screenplays by Sam Peckinpah and David Zelag Goodman) has made a movie that can teach many young directors how to use violence to blow you out of the theater instead of beating you over the head with pointless, non-stop visual images of it. Straw Dogs has a sinister tone with all of the tensions simmering below the surface, growing and growing until they cannot be contained anymore. Then, when the shocking violence happens (sparsely and at the right moments), the audience feels it in their guts because it's raw, surprising and realistic. In a way, the violence defines the characters and story, instead of existing to satisfy a bloodlust.

Lurie also complicates the story and the relationships between the characters to keep the audience on their toes. The problems between David and Amy fuel the disagreements between David and the locals, and the challenges to his manhood as he has a different set of values and point of view than all of them. Yet, he's a man, and he doesn't want that to be brought into question.

Underneath the obvious, we see the unspoken struggle between the rich guy and the poorer people, and the differences between the small town soul versus big town, East Coast "sophistication." Plus, David is not completely innocent, which helps drive the locals distaste for him and his personality, and make the audience wonder if he might be bringing some of this onto himself.

Marsden is very solid walking a tightrope between macho guy and 98 pound weakling, which is tough, since he is an action star and physically strong guy. Then, Bosworth gives us some of the best work she has ever given as the wife who is walking her own tightrope between loving her husband and life in Hollywood versus some sort of unresolved feelings about her hometown, her understanding of its ways and why she might have left.

If you are like me, seeing Straw Dogs will keep you up a little later than usual that night.

Straw Dogs is rated R for strong brutal violence including a sexual attack, menace, some sexual content, and pervasive language