The Power of the Dog – Film Review

Severe, pale-eyed, handsome, Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) is brutally beguiling. All of Phil’s romance, power, and fragility is trapped in the past and in the land: He can castrate a bull calf with two swift slashes of his knife; he swims naked in the river, smearing his body with mud. He is a cowboy as raw as his hides. The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose (Kirsten Dunst), the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Phil behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, reveling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter — all except his brother George (Jesse Plemons), who comforts Rose then returns to marry her.

As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form — he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil’s cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or a plot-twisting further into menace?

From the moment The Power of the Dog begins, it’s crystal clear that director Jane Campion knows exactly how to make a film that demands your attention. Despite the fact that her film runs a bit over two hours, it rarely feels boring save for some sections in the second act. It’s even more impressive when you stop to consider just how slow-burning this film is. The Power of the Dog absolutely does not spoon-feed the audience any answers and I absolutely love that because it seems as though these days now more than ever, a ton of films simply don’t allow the viewer to leave things up to the imagination. Gratefully, the same thing cannot be said about this film.

The script – also written by Campion – is deeply rich and invigorating for the majority of the running time, exploring tons of themes including loss, grief, and one’s place in the world. It also brilliantly fleshes out its main cast of characters, particularly Benedict Cumberbatch’s Phil Burbank and Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Peter Gordon, two of the most fascinating film characters of the whole year. On the surface, this movie is a Western – it’s got the setting, the grimy outfits, the grimy look and atmosphere, and the awesome mustaches. But at its core, The Power of the Dog is a heady character study, and an excellent one at that.

The movie’s title comes from Psalm 20:22 which reads, “Deliver my soul from the sword, My darling from the power of the dog.” It’s a film that could’ve felt unbearably pretentious and preachy but thankfully, it never does. Campion knows how to create interesting characters and take them on some highly memorable journies. By the time you come to the legitimately shocking final few minutes, you’ll feel as though you just went through Hell and back in all the best ways.

I wouldn’t call The Power of the Dog disturbing so much as I’d call it intimidating. It’s a movie that seriously creeps up on you and finds brilliant ways to sink its teeth right into your heart. But it’s not disturbing because, simply put, nothing truly horrific happens in this film. Sure there are talks of death here and there and some people in the film are clearly suffering from some sicknesses, but there are no extreme gore or horrific hauntings like you’d see in a film like Midsommar.

It’s harrowing and unsuspecting. It’s a film that wants to get your heart racing by the time the final act comes into play, and I’d be a complete liar if I said that feeling didn’t happen to me. But what’s so intriguing is that oftentimes you’ll feel an unbelievable sense of tension rising within you and you won’t necessarily know why. It’s amazing in that regard.

Speaking of amazing… Benedict Cumberbatch. Wow. Of course, most people know him for his roles as Dr. Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock, but his work here as Phil Burbank is without a doubt his most impressive to date. He feels incredibly imposing in this film to the point where it can oftentimes be a bit difficult to even look at him. You truly get the sense that if you anger him over the slightest thing, he’ll try to kill you. He has an extremely short temper, and so if you pair that with his violent tendencies, you have a ticking time bomb.

Also terrific here is Kodi Smit-McPhee as Peter Gordon, one of the movie’s most important characters. At times, his character can feel a bit inconsequential and it can be somewhat confusing as to where they’re going with him, but once you see the grand picture, his character’s significance in the story becomes clear as day. Smit-McPhee gave this performance his all and truly impressed me here, as did Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon and Jesse Plemons as George Burbank.

The Power of the Dog is a highly impressive and engrossing character study and one that feels greatly tense at times. It also serves as a vehicle for Benedict Cumberbatch, who you will undoubtedly see getting an Academy Award nomination in the forthcoming year.