Muzzle City of Wolves Review: Good Dog!

John Stalberg Jr.’s Muzzle: City of Wolves is a competent action-thriller that takes itself a little too seriously for its own good.

Be warned, though: if you haven’t seen its predecessor, 2023’s Muzzle, you might feel a little lost here, especially at the beginning. City of Wolves is at least comprehensible as an individual story, but it does have plenty of emotional and narrative connections to the first movie, making it feel like a true continuation of said production.

As the film starts, we see ex-K9 officer from Los Angeles Jake Rosser (Aaron Eckhart, looking pretty much the same as he did in The Dark Knight back in 2008), living a tranquil life with his wife, Mia (Tanya van Graan) and their baby. But since he hurt a bunch of people during the events of the previous movie, the consequences of his actions eventually come to bite him in the butt. One night, a stranger breaks into their home, tries to kill both him and Mia, and although they manage to neutralise him, the house gets destroyed in a devastating explosion.

Certain that there’s a connection between the assassination attempt and past events, Jake decides to meet with Detective Cutler (Nicole Fortuin), who tells him a Mexican cartel is after him and his family. Unfortunately, it turns out the meeting is a trap, so Jake manages to get out and steal a car, but is eventually caught by corrupt Officer Beekman (Karl Thaning), who is working for the cartel. Feeling trapped and isolated, Jake has to find a way to escape from Beekman, prove his innocence, and get rid of the cartel that is trying so hard to eliminate him (and his dog companion, Argos).

Again, City of Wolves isn’t hard to understand as a newcomer to this world, but one can certainly benefit from watching the first movie, especially as most of Jake’s motivations are related to the events of that story. Nevertheless, Stalberg and screenwriter Jacob Michael King do a good job at establishing the stakes, making it clear that Jake’s priority is Mia and the baby, and that, despite him being a loose cannon and (sometimes) a killer, deep down, he’s a good man. He wants to be left alone, but unfortunately, the cartel has other plans for him.

In any case, if the film falters in any considerable way, it’s in the characterisation of its antagonists. The cartel leader, for example, is only shown in the shadows, talking on the phone from his base and making vague threats. He’s portrayed as some sort of cartoon villain, which doesn’t really feel coherent with the serious tone of the picture. And although at first it seems that Beekman might turn into a three-dimensional antagonist, especially considering he’s doing bad stuff only because the cartel has threatened to kill his family, in the end, the movie doesn’t do a lot with him. He’s underutilised, which doesn’t help make the conflict feel serious or dangerous enough.

Which is a problem, considering that City of Wolves takes itself really seriously. There are very few moments of levity – one of them being a conversation about conspiracy theories between two ambulance drivers, which is admittedly pretty fun – and the script tries to deal with both Jake and Mia’s trauma and the way their marriage has been affected by the events of both movies. It might not totally work, mainly because Mia is more of a sketch than a credible character, but I do appreciate the fact that Stalberg tries to turn City of Wolves into a believable thriller that deals with the consequences of violence and death in a serious way.

Aaron Eckhart portrays Jake as a complicated man: on the one hand, he loves both his family and his dog, Argos, and tries to do the right thing most of the time. But on the other hand, it seems danger follows him everywhere, which ends up with him killing people, even if it’s only in self-defence. He’s not a super-powerful and invincible action hero; just an efficient and conflicted man. For her part, Tanya van Graan does what she can with a frankly thankless role. The script includes a couple of flashbacks, which are supposed to flesh out the relationship between Mia and Jake, but they don’t really work. Thus, Mia ends up being more of an idea of a wife, rather than a well-rounded human being.

Argos the dog does manage to stand out, though, especially during the action scenes in which Jake sends him to attack, maim or kill his antagonists. And although I wouldn’t say City of Wolves is an action-heavy thriller, what we do get is pretty well-made, even including a couple of sweet, practical explosions and intense shootouts.

This might not represent a comeback for Aaron Eckhart, who’s been out of the limelight for a while, but it should attract viewers wanting to see a more serious and meditative action thriller, or at least those who want to see humans and dogs working together to take out bad guys. Muzzle: City of Wolves has plenty of bite, even if it tends to bark a bit too much for its own good.

Muzzle: City of Wolves will be released in US theatres on November 14, 2025.