the movieGOOMBA

Chronicling three days in the life of willing hostage Zach Mazursky, Alpha Dog bases its story on real life events of Jesse James Hollywood and the kidnapping of Nicholas Markowitz. Out for revenge, Johnny Truelove and his high rollin' posse plan to jump Jake Mazursky but see his kid brother Zach walking along the road. They kidnap Zach, beat, bind and gag him. However, once Johnny explains they have no malicious intent, they just want the ransom money, Zach goes along with the kidnapping, trusting that he'll be treated well and that his brother will pay. For once in his short and sheltered life, he'd have the freedom to party, drink and smoke, and make out with girls. Sure, why not go along with it?

Filmed like a docudrama, this movie was inventive with its presentation of details (i.e. the count of witnesses and the time and place of each location). It offers this feeling of finality and retrospect rather than taking you along for the ride. This film assumes you know the ending but wish to know how it came to be, and for it's this reason that Alpha Dog is not only painful, but ominous as well.

Raw, abrasive, and realistically disturbing, Alpha Dog is a testament to how youthful irresponsibility and wrong choices can lead not only to very messed up kids, but to serious and disconcerting situations. For those with virgin ears, please keep in mind that the four letter word and all its derivatives is said 310 times in this gritty flick.