Dragged Across Concrete

DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE (18)

D: S. Craig Zahler

Summit/Unified/Assemble Media/Cinestate/Look To The Sky/Moot Point (Sefton Fincham, Jack Heller, Tyler Jackson, Keith Kjarval & Dallas Sonnier)

US 2018 (released 2019)

159 mins


Crime/Thriller


W: S. Craig Zahler

DP: Benji Bakshi

Ed: Greg D'Auria

Mus: Jeff Herriott & S. Craig Zahler



Mel Gibson (Brett Ridgeman), Vince Vaughn (Anthony Lurasetti), Tory Kittles (Henry Johns), Michael Jai White (Biscuit), Laurie Holden (Melanie Ridgeman), Jennifer Carpenter (Kelly Summer)


Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn star in this crime thriller, in which they play police partners who are suspended without pay for their strong-armed tactics during an arrest. Desperate for money for his struggling family, Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) is tempted over to the other side of the law, where he plans to rob some criminals of a gold heist with the help of his hesitant partner, Anthony Lurasetti.

Filmmaker S. Craig Zahler addresses his subject matter in an interesting way, with a hypnotically slow build-up that introduces several characters, rewarding us with a nail-biting final act with some unflinching violence.

It could be argued that the film is half-an-hour longer than it really needs to be, but this is the film that Zahler wanted to make, and he was involved in all aspects of the production, including the final cut and all the music that features on the soundtrack.

Gibson delivers one of the best screen performances of his career and all the supporting actors and actresses are equally excellent. It's also interesting that the film never lingers on the violence, which is quite strong, but shows the audience only what it needs to see and then carries on with the scene. 

The characters are also interesting and quite flawed, making this drama more realistic than the crime heist movies that we've all seen many times before.

I think S. Craig Zahler is a filmmaker to follow, though his output certainly won't be for all tastes.

7/10


Vince Vaughn & Mel Gibson in Dragged Across Concrete
Vince Vaughn & Mel Gibson in Dragged Across Concrete