II listened to Thomas Savage’s The Power of the Dog on a whim earlier this year. I loved the first couple of chapters, but it ultimately went nowhere. I understood the idea and thought it had the potential to drive home an important point. However, despite its setup, it missed its landing entirely. Shortly afterward, I saw that there would be a movie based on the novel. Not only that, but it was set for release later that year. On top of that, there has been some early Oscar buzz surrounding the movie, both for Best Picture, Best Director (Jane Champion), Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Actress (Kirsten Dunst), and Best Supporting Actors (Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee). Even in 2021, which has proven to be one of the worst years for movies in my lifetime, The Power of the Dog deserves some of the praise it’s already receiving and will likely continue to receive.
It took me a rewatch of The Power of the Dog to appreciate it fully. I was busy doing other things during my first viewing. This film requires your full attention to be appreciated, which I gave it the second time. I’ve read a couple of other reviews that echoed this. With my first viewing, I missed something that required a deeper examination. I couldn’t agree more. The Power of the Dog isn’t an enjoyable watch by any means. But it is purposeful and driven. Champion doesn’t change much from Savage’s 1967 novel, but she takes out much of the drivel and meandering that bored me during my reading.
Set in 1925 Montana, The Power of the Dog tells the story of two brother ranchers. Phil (Cumberbatch – Dr. Strange, The Imitation Game) is the toughened older brother. His grueling cowboy lifestyle has left him an unsympathetic, miserable man, living without much purpose besides work. Only showering when he sees fit and always in an outside stream by himself, Phil leads others by example on the job but drifts into the night’s solitude outside of it. The younger brother, George (Plemons – AMC’s Breaking Bad, Hostiles), is the kinder, more personable, and level-headed brother. However, his quiet, gentle nature can come off as timidity, and his brother knows how to take advantage, constantly referring to him as “fatso” because of his physique. Though successful business partners, the two brothers couldn’t be any different. Phil must be the most formidable and gnarliest man in whatever room he’s in. Caked in filth that makes him an unwanted dinner guest, Phil is in his realm with his boys, picking on the weakest link in the bunch, knowing that this will never be him.
When George marries Rose (Dunst – Elizabethtown, Spider-Man), a young widow of a restaurant visited by the Burbank brothers and their cowhands one night, Phil’s world is shaken. His displeasure with his brother’s decision to bring Rose and her awkward, college-aged son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Let Me In) to the ranch is instantly aware to all. In, perhaps, his most sinister role to date, Cumberbatch portrays Phil as a constant, ominous presence, intent on making Rose and Peter as uncomfortable as possible in his home. Though accelerated due to the constraints of the movie, Phil methodically drives Rose to a trembling paranoia that evolves into depression and alcoholism. When she is no longer a target, he aims at the feeble Peter at every opportunity, equating his inexperience on a farm to a massive failure in life. Phil is one of the most unlikable characters you’ll see all year, yet he’s the spark that gets such great performances from his three counterparts. Cumberbatch is subtly evil, almost to the point where you want to see him do something good so that he has some redeemable trait.
Unnerving at times, The Power of the Dog is one of the harshest burns of the year. Champion’s mastery of the source material twists a knife into each of us as we envision how awful our lives might be if we had someone as manipulative as Phil in it. Cumberbatch’s performance is Oscar-worthy, as is that of upstart Smit-McPhee and stalwart Dunst, who churns out her best performance since the mid-2000s when she had memorable critical successes with the likes of Melancholia, The Virgin Suicides, and Wimbledon. Plemons is the worst of the four. When we want more of him, he seems to disappear. His character isn’t a fair differentiation from his character in the recent Antlers. He plays a man with good intentions who shines away from the spotlight when he is most needed in each film. It’s almost as if he knows what he needs to do to improve a bad situation but can’t do so. In The Power of the Dog, it allows Phil to walk over, not just him but his wife and stepson.
The Power of the Dog is a movie to see. I surprise myself by saying this, considering that my mind drifted aimlessly while reading the novel and how my first viewing of the film was anything but memorable. However, I was determined to give it another chance as it seemed like I was in a small minority of critics who didn’t like the film. I’m glad I could devote the headspace required for its second viewing. In a year when there have been very few good films,
Plot 7/10
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 7/10
Directing 5/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 9/10 – slow, underlying, menacing
Hook and Reel 7/10 – requires your full attention from start to finish to be fully appreciated, but you’ve got to commit.
Universal Relevance 7/10
74%
Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie
- All the Pretty Horses
- Straw Dogs
- The Rider
- Brokeback Mountain
- The Mustang