Dog Soldiers
I gotta say, I was truly shocked by how good this was and Neil Marshall really deserved a best director nomination for it. I love when a movie I have low expectations for and know little to nothing about turns out to be unexpectedly awesome like this. On paper soldiers boarded up in some house in the middle of nowehere vs. a family of intelligent werewolves that we only see in wolfman form sounds like a dumb plot for a cliche-riddled "so bad its good" horror movie, but while this is a horror-comedy and the werewolves admittedly look kinda silly, it's essentially a perfect movie. The editing, directing, acting (even though the cast were basically all unknowns at the time), and writing were all excellent. The script also does a great job of successfully developing a cast containing numerous doomed characters and the soldiers all feel fully fleshed-out before the werewolves even show up (and the characters talk like actual people), plus the folks playing the soldiers have great chemistry. This is one of those movies that has no business being anything other than a complete mess, but somehow every part seems to work perfectly in a way that just can't be replicated (like capturing lightening in a bottle).
There are a few jump-scares, but they're legitimately clever and used pretty sparingly. Most of the time, the film wisely focuses on suspense, excellent minimalist action scenes (the editing in some of them is Oscar worthy), and the cat-and-mouse game between the two sides. Plus, there's really only one person who dies by doing something really stupid which is always a plus in horror films. The werewolves and soldiers both have some reasonably well-thought out strategies and both have moments where their plans don't pan out. Plus, the script is extremely clever and contains several solid (albeit not entirely unpredictable) twists, but to say more would be to enter spoiler territory.
However, the MVP of this movie is without question Liam Cunningham (better known as Davos from Game of Thrones). This movie made me appreciate just how good an actor he is; his character here could not be more different from Davos. Here he plays the primary human antagonist and takes what could've been a one-note generic evil CIA-type and turns him into one of the most entertaining parts of the movie. The man doesn't just chew the scenery, he devours it and turns in a terrific performance as a guy who literally shoots a dog in the head during his first scene just to be a dick (although his dryly delivered gallows humor is hilarious)...and Cunningham so thoroughly inhabits the character that you never once get distracted by the fact that he's become much better known for other parts (it helps that he's clean-shaven). I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being the best performance of his career by a country mile (it certainly is his best thus far). Also, I'd never know it was Cunningham if I only heard his voice in the movie; he sounds a lot like Jermey Irons in Reversal of Fortune.
Anyway, if you want some good, entertaining fun, I'd highly recommend this movie. You can watch it on youtube for free with decent sound and picture quality (link included so anyone interested can avoid some of the spoiler-filled clips folks have posted):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fiy4A3sbd4
