Geoffrey DeLeons I think the best part of this movie was the acting. We get great performances from Patrick Swayze, Randy Travis, Meatloaf, Gabriel Casseus and Graham Beckel. Also of-mention is Crews' daughter, played by 11-year-old Erin Broderick. She just had a "special something" and lit up every scene with her in it.Swayze plays the part to a "T" of a basically-decent person, just-released from a 2-year prison stint, and is obviously traumatized by both the incarceration and the knowledge that his negligence killed someone. I think his was a socially-important part, because herein, we see the effect of over-working, as one tries to create a decent life for one's family.Randy Travis plays his part well, never over-acting, and always imbuing his words and actions with the sense of calm and humor he is known for in music circles. I enjoyed him in 1997's Fire Down Below, and in The Black Dog, he gets a much more substantial role, and much more screen time. His references to song writing and singing were humorous.Meatloaf is the surprise of the movie. His role as religion-crazed black marketeer plays excellent counter-point to the other, more-reserved characters in the movie. It was great to see Gabriel Casseus (as undercover F.B.I agent). I admired his work in 2000's Bedazzled and would like to see more of his work. I was not familiar with Graham Beckel, who plays the "arms-dealing mastermind" in The Black Dog, but whoever did casting for the movie knew a good "bad guy" when they saw one. Not being a trucker, I'm not sure if some of the driving stunts Crews pulled off are possible.., or not, but the scene with him getting out of the cab and swinging outside the cab over to the fifth wheel to fight a bad guy is definitely something to see. It was definitely Swayze.., not a stunt double.I have never understood how a moving vehicle can hit a stationary object (like a mobile home) and then fly over it, spinning, but the good news is that I don't have to. The Black Dog is a good action movie with a special cast and a couple of important social messages: 1.) Don't fore-close on people's house (and family), because they will do whatever it takes to keep their life. and 2.) Do not demand inhumane hours and effort from your employees, because they could pop.

callanvass Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) is a con man, recently released from Prison, is offered a substantial amount of money for one more job. Jack and his wife receive a notice that their house is under foreclosure. This job will free Jack from his predicament. Jack doesn't realize that illegal weapons have been secretly stored in the back of the truck. Jack is in the fight of his life, not only to get paid, but to save his family as wellPatrick Swayze is a man I greatly admire. I always felt he was a very solid actor, but his star power had begun to really fizzle out at this juncture. Black Dog looks and feels like a STD film, but it actually got a theatrical release (!) While there have been bigger bombs than this one at the box office, this one was pretty much a bomb, by making only 12 million. Black Dog cares more about truck carnage, than story coherency. It has plenty of crashes, chases, but I didn't care about any of it, because the story was so poor. We get mystical mumbo-jumbo involving The Black Dog, and it's filled with awful country music, and predictable twists. Be prepared for many jokes when it comes to Randy Travis's character. At one point, Patrick Swayze says to him "You should be a professional singer" How lame can you get? Not only do we have to endure Randy Travis's horrific acting skills, but an unbearably hammy Meat Loaf, who is so OTT, he should be ashamed of himself. I cringed whenever he was on screen. Patrick Swayze does what he can, but he has crappy material to work with. He is watchable as he always is, but this is one of his forgettable performances. It's not his fault, though. His character is written horribly, and he just looks ashamed to be in this film, not that I blame him. We also get one of those annoying false endings. I was relieved this movie was over, and to get a false ending, with a film that wasn't exactly asking for it. It annoyed meFinal Thoughts: Do yourself a favor and skip it. Not even die hard Swayze fans can get much out of this one. I love cheesy movies, but this has no entertainment value. It's a really bad movie, and one I'd suggest you stay away from3.6/10

Boba_Fett1138 For the genre movie that this is, it's a pretty enjoyable movie to watch. It's definitely no worse or better than any other similar simple straight-forward action flick from the '90's.Of course the movie is suffering from more than 1 problem though. One obviously is its story. It's simple and actually doesn't make a lot of sense and is a real unlikely one. I mean, why did Red ever let the truck drive off from his place, only to dangerously attempt to hijack it later, on the very same day. But oh well, without this story we wouldn't had all those exploding trucks and action scenes within this movie.Well, it's not like the action is much spectacular though. Funny enough there are lots of exploding trucks and cars but they already seem to blow up when one of the passengers farts. Action-wise this movie just isn't good or spectacular enough to watch.Another problem with the movie is that it has far too many villains in it. It's like the main characters against the rest of the world. The movie also doesn't seem to be able to make a choice who to make the main and most important villain of the movie, with as a result that all of the villainous characters aren't really anything memorable or evil enough, since the movie spends to much time on showing the many different villainous characters of the movie.The movie is from the period when Patrick Swayze's career of course already was more or less on a death end. Nevertheless he's always good and serious with every role that he plays. He's also credible in this role, despite his already showing age. He was perhaps a tad bit too old at the time of this movie to play the main lead in an action movie. Meat Loaf mostly seemed to have had fun with playing his role, which shows on the screen. But like I said before, since he plays a villain, he didn't get the screen time he deserved. There are parts in the movie were he completely disappears, only to show up 20 minutes later again.But despite this all, the movie is good and entertaining enough to watch. It's current rating on here would suggest that this is one of the worst action flicks of the '90's but it hardly is. It's also no better than some action flicks but also definitely no worse than some others.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Salazar Yes, it has many a plot hole. Yes, the acting isn't Oscar worthy. And yes, it's a cheesy B-grade movie. But guess what? I like it. "Black Dog" is a silly trucker action/thriller topped off with comedy, both intentional and unintentional, and a really, really cool country music score. The reason why so many people don't like it is simply 'cause they are taking it far too seriously. If you're like me and have had plenty of warning NOT to take "Black Dog" so seriously (thanks to the other IMDb members), then you'll like "Black Dog". In short, DO NOT expect "Black Dog" to be something like "Donnie Darko" and/or "Fight Club". Don't take it seriously and you may just have a rollicking good time, especially if you are a fan of anyone who stars in it.