Alpha Dog

Alpha Dog is a powerful film based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz and the alleged involvement of drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood, the youngest men ever to be on the FBI’s most wanted list.

The movie opens with Sonny Truelove (played by Bruce Willis), Johnny’s father as well as drug supplier, being interviewed about good parenting. Sonny is a major scumbag with links to organized crime who is using his son as the front for his own business. It is unclear who is interviewing him, or for what purpose. As the movie progresses we witness how Johnny and his father work their deals and move large amounts of marijuana worth thousands of dollars.

At one of his many parties, Johnny meets with Jake Mazursky, one of Johnny’s part-time distributors. When Jake fails to collect a drug debt for Johnny, they begin to fight and Johnny pulls a gun on him. Later, in retaliation Jake and some friends break in to vandalize Johnny’s house.

During all of these crazy events we are introduced to Jake’s 15-year-old half-brother Zach. Zach is going through some rough times of his own. Since his older brother is such a screw-up, his mother (Sharon Stone) smothers him and treats him like a child. When his parents confront him about a bong they found in Zach’s room, he decides to run away from home.

After Johnny cleans up his house, he and his friends Frankie (Justin Timberlake) and “TKO” set out to get kill Jake. After the task proves to be unsuccessful they come across Zach walking along a country road, so they pull over and kidnap him, throwing him into the back of the van, hoping to use him as leverage to make Jake pay his debt. They take him to Frankie's house in Palm Springs, California. Zach begins to feel he is amongst friends and enjoys the break from home life with his over-protective mother. He is given alcohol and drugs and loses his virginity. He is confident that Jake will soon pay his debt, and that he will then be released. Through all of this the movie continually lists the amount of witnesses there were to this random, out-of control crime.

Things quickly move from bad to worse and when Johnny finds out that he may serve a serious amount of jail time for kidnapping, he instructs his friends to kill Zach.

This movie is harsh and realistic but extremely sad. The story is told semi-documentary style and interviews the witnesses and participants as the story is being told. The storyline is a powerful, very realistic look at the account of a young boy who had the misfortune of being caught up in a web of murder, drugs, and sex. It is both maddening and tragic. The writing was lacking cohesion; it became choppy and failed to keep my attention at points. It may be worth seeing one time, but I would not watch it again.