No offence to Aaron Eckhart, but “Sad Aaron” doesn’t quite have the same emotional thwack to the soft parts as “Sad Keanu”. Like John Wick, Muzzle begins with a dead doggie, and Eckhart plays LAPD officer Jake Rosser, an army veteran with PTSD; his only meaningful relationship is with his K9 partner, a German shepherd called Ace. There’s an excruciating scene setting up their deep bond, Rosser musing on the misuse of the word “literally” as he drives to work, Ace listening dutifully in the passenger seat next to him.
When Ace is killed in a shootout, Rosser finds himself embroiled in a police scandal. Footage emerges from the crime scene of him head-butting a paramedic who insists – quite reasonably, you might think – on treating human casualties first. After a few sessions with the police therapist, Rosser is back on the job and out for revenge. His new partner is Socks, an aggressive mutt traumatised by an undercover job which involved her being fitted with titanium teeth.
