Atom User Reviews for The Power of the Dog
Great watch
Metacritic
Striking visual metaphors may be as blunt as stakes in the hard ground, as brutal as rusty, bloodied blades or as free-flowing and poetic as waterways and the wind through tall blades of grass, but Campion’s direction is measured, patient and captivating.
With Campion’s native New Zealand standing in magnificently for early 20th century Big Sky Country, The Power of the Dog is a study in contrasts between the almost surreal beauty of the mountains and the sky and the vast land, and the nasty, petty and often unspeakably harsh manner in which people will treat one another — even their own kin.
Jane Campion serves up a nervy psychodrama set against an astonishing cattle country backdrop with impressive performances from Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst, but an obvious plot trajectory that dulls the storytelling impact.
