By the time 7 Dogs reaches the scene that reportedly breaks the Guinness World Record for the most explosives detonated in a single take, the film has already proven its point.
This is a well-crafted Arabic action film blockbuster made for the big screen and an international audience.
For those after a Hollywood-style adventure, there is plenty here: an international crime caper with the banter and friction of a buddy-cop film. Think old-school action cinema in the vein of Gone in 60 Seconds and the early Bad Boys films. The latter is a franchise that director duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah successfully revived, and they now bring that same energy to a cast with best-in-class status.
That begins with Egyptian stars Ahmed Ezz and Karim Abdel Aziz, playing seasoned cop Khalid and brash criminal Ghali. The film opens with an arrest attempt that turns into a rescue mission, a well-executed plane sequence that sets the explosive tone early.
The two are reunited when Khalid has to get Ghali out of prison for a limited period to bring down an international crime syndicate threatening to flood the region with illegal narcotics, all within days, and all while Khalid has to make it home to marry his neurotic fiancee.
There are probably half a dozen films you could list based on that, but familiarity is the point. A good genre film should deliver the fundamentals, and 7 Dogs does it: the set-up is quick, the stakes are raised and the partnership is established within 15 minutes.
The buddy-cop format is also not exactly new to Arabic cinema. Egyptian cinema has been working with it for decades. Hanafy al-Obaha (1990), with stars Adel Imam and Farouk Al Fishawy, runs almost the same play, a cop releasing a criminal to take down a bigger gang.
In 7 Dogs, Khalid is by the book but also a thrill seeker with a short fuse. Ghali begins as another criminal figure but seems more soulful than he first appears, not simply the comedy foil. There is enough hurt beneath the banter to keep the relationship from becoming routine.
The international plot creates room for guest appearances without making them feel shoehorned in. Sanjay Dutt brings his signature menace as a member of the underworld. Monica Bellucci has plenty of fun as one of the crime syndicate's figures, sharing some of the film's key moments with Abdel Aziz, who holds his own opposite the Italian star.
What works better than the global star power is seeing regional stars fill roles usually shaped by Hollywood action tropes. Nasser Al Qasabi, as the regional Interpol boss, is not the usual exhausted authority figure barking instructions from behind a desk.
He plays it as he would in his own Saudi productions – dry and offbeat, with a glint in his eye. For all his limited time on screen, it works. It is a small piece of originality in a production largely built as homage to the Hollywood genre.
The location choices also carry the film well. Riyadh's King Abdullah Financial District doubles as the headquarters of the regional Interpol branch, while Boulevard City serves as the backdrop for a dystopian neon street in China.
Those choices make a practical argument for Riyadh as a production city and explain why the industry is watching this film beyond the box office.
It also shows there are crews, locations and production systems now in place to support films of this scale in the region.
That is perhaps the biggest achievement of 7 Dogs: a showcase for a region with the promise of releasing more international blockbusters and, with any luck, more original ones too.
7 Dogs will screen in UAE cinemas and across the region from May 27
