Muzzle: City of Wolves

Most movie patrons wouldn’t care much if Jake Rosser dies, but if anything happens to his partner, there will be a riot in the theater. Rosser retired from the force, but he still trains police dogs like Argos. It will be good to have Argos around when a cartel comes looking for revenge in John Stalberg Jr.’s Muzzle: City of Wolves, which opens Friday in theaters.

Rosser went a little rogue at the end of the first film, but it seemed like he got away cleanly. Apparently not. In addition to some serious cartel enemies and an internal affairs investigator snooping around, Rosser has some serious post-traumatic stress. He had tried to maintain a normal family life, but the home invasion that culminates in an explosion greatly strains his marriage to Mia. Rather ominously, the assailant was a Mexican investigative journalist who tried to expose the cartel. Instead, they captured and tortured his family.

Before long, the cartel tries to extort Rosser in a similar way. Exploiting his not-so-secret PTSD, the shadowy cult-leader drug lord tries to frame him as a racist cop pushed over the edge. A real corrupt cop will do all the dirty work. Again, Rosser will be lucky to have Argos riding shotgun.

The first Muzzle was a solid B-movie procedural, elevated by its sensitive portrayal of the handler-K9 bond. Like the original, City of Wolves explicitly calls out China’s complicity with the illegal fentanyl trade. However, that is about as far as it goes. The first film was unabashedly hardboiled, but the new sequel is somehow even darker. Yet, it is not such a smooth ride, due to some rather choppy editing.

Of course, Argos is the real star of the film, but Aaron Eckhart is dependably grizzled and brooding as Rosser. However, Tanya van Graan (playing Mia) seems just as confused by all the flashbacks as the audience. However, she looks a lot like Charlize Theron, so the casting director gets credit for finding an affordable alternative. Yet, aside from Argos, the film’s best work comes from Karl Thaning, who is convincingly both menacing and pathetic as the shamelessly crooked Det. Beekman.

Service dogs are genuine heroes and Chinese Fentanyl represents a threat to both national health and national security. Stalberg still gets both points right. He takes some risks in City of Wolves, rather than simply playing it safe, which is cool, but its just not as polished as the first film. (Arguably, it could a Stephen Lang again, or a comparable supporting player.) Still, dog lovers will cheer for  Argos, but they can safely wait for it to reach an ad-supported streamer. Watchable but not as good as the first, Muzzle: City of Wolves opens this Friday (11/14) in New York at the AMC Empire.