With harrowing intensity; Alpha Dog dramatizes one of the most tragically notorious murders in recent history. Ripped from the headlines; writer-director Nick Cassavetes' flawed but riveting crime drama (a polar opposite to his previous film; the romantic hit The Notebook) is based on the real-life case of Jesse James Hollywood; a drug dealer in California's San Gabriel Valley who; in 2000; became one of the youngest men to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Names and details have been changed; but the criminal circumstances remain the same: With family links to organized crime; Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is on the warpath against Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster); a sleazebag addict who owes him money. Fate intervenes when Johnny and his stoner pals including Frankie (Justin Timberlake) encounter Jake's 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) and hold him as collateral until Jake pays his debts. What begins as a casual; seemingly harmless situation escalates into a crisis of capital crime; as Alpha Dog employs split-screen; docudrama; and mock-documentary interviews to chronicle a tragic tailspin of reckless events and lawless behavior.

Cassavetes himself became part of the real-life drama when prosecutors (hoping to locate then-fugitive Jesse James Hollywood; who was captured in 2005) gave him legally controversial access to their case files. Alpha Dog clearly benefits from this inside information; and while the film's grueling depiction of underage squalor (including rampant drug and alcohol abuse) is inevitably off-putting and at least partially exploitative; there's no denying that Cassavetes has worked wonders with a well-chosen ensemble cast including Timberlake; who contrasts his music-industry stardom with a convincing performance as a likable; not-too-bright party animal who quickly gets in over his head. The film is ultimately compromised by Cassavetes' ambitious attempt to cover too much dramatic territory; but like his father John before him; he demonstrates a remarkable skill with actors (including Sharon Stone; Bruce Willis; and Harry Dean Stanton in supporting roles); and Alpha Dog is full of powerful; dangerous moments that aren't easily forgotten. --Jeff Shannon