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Kierre's Review of The Power of the Dog 2021 ★★★★


Watched Jan 22, 2022

The Power of the Dog stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burban a Cattle Rancher in Montana in the early 1900's. He lives in a large Mansion with his brother George, played by Jessie Plemons. Phil is a really good Rancher whereas George is the more educated and more business minded of the two. Phil is however a very mean individual and comes across as a very macho and domineering man and mocks even his own brother for being overweight. Often after a days work, both Phil and George would travel to a local restaurant owned by a widower named Rose played by Kirsten Dunst; who has a son named Peter played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. Peter is somewhat of a sensitive boy who makes paper flowers and talks a bit soft, which causes Phil to make fun of him. George however takes a liking to Rose and her son and eventually marries her and moves her into their Mansion at the ranch. At some point, Peter comes to visit the ranch and accidently catches Phil doing something which would be considered less "macho", which causes a change in their relationship. Phil starts to be very friendly toward Peter, which is either genuine or because he plans to do serious harm to Peter for catching him.

The film is a bit difficult to describe without going too much into details or potential spoilers, but I will say that this was one of the best films of 2021! The acting is great and there are several twists and turns. It isn't a typical "Shoot em up" Western but it is quite good. I felt all of the acting was phenomenal from all of the leads but it was especially great to see Cumberbatch in this role as a bad guy. I strongly recommend seeing this film and it is now on Netflix.

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