Review: Dragged Across Concrete
Mel Gibson's offscreen antics have overshadowed and dimmed his light in the past decade or so but, in his heyday as sexiest man alive and box office superstar, he arguably patented a combo of dramatic gravitas, comic finesse, and action man machismo that wouldn't be out of place in today's Marvel Cinematic Universe. The combination was never better showcased than in his role as LAPD detective Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon films. One can well imagine the unhinged Riggs curdling into Brett Ridgeman, the old-school cop which Gibson inhabits so beautifully in Dragged Across Concrete, the third directorial effort from S. Craig Zahler.
Ridgeman is pushing 60 and he's an old dog whose tricks have not changed with the more politically correct times. As he notes, "I don't politick and I don't change with the times, and it turns out that's more important than good, honest work." Zahler concerns himself with this provocative line of thinking for the first half of the film. The media and the upper brass may not condone his methods - including jamming his foot onto a suspect's face or forcing that suspect's half-deaf girlfriend to have a cold shower and then stand almost naked in a cold room to glean some information - but he gets results. Still, as his former partner and now superior (Don Johnson) points out, Ridgeman is losing perspective and compassion and, in a few years, he'll be "a human steamroller covered with spikes and fuelled by bile."
Suspended without pay, he and his current partner, Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn) find themselves in need of cash and fast. Ridgeman's ex-wife cop (Laurie Holden) is unable to work due to her multiple sclerosis and she's increasingly determined to have the family move to a better neighbourhood to avoid their daughter being harassed by the black kids. Lurasetti, meanwhile, wants to propose to his girlfriend but wonders what kind of financial security he can offer. Ridgeman decides that the way to solve their problems is to use their criminal connections to find "a suspicious individual to try and figure out if he's got any money he doesn't need." It's no spoiler to note that the plan is doomed from the jump.
Zahler lets the proceedings unfold at an almost leisurely place, but there's no slack whatsoever as he maintains a confident control over the goings-on. There's room for a parallel storyline involving Tory Kittles' recently released career criminal, Henry, who finds himself convinced to do another job by childhood friend Biscuit (Michael Jai White) so that he can take care of his mother, who sustained her drug addiction by prostituting herself while Henry was in jail, and his wheelchair-bound younger brother Ethan (Myles Truitt). There's time for a detour involving a woman (Jennifer Carpenter) who is tremendously anxious about leaving her baby to go back to work. There's a menacing calm that permeates the proceedings along with a churning dread that keeps viewers on edge. The whole thing is nothing less than compelling and is further proof that Zahler is an exciting filmmaker to watch.
As with his previous works, Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99, Dragged Across Concrete displays Zahler's knack for genre reinvention and subversion, memorable and pulpy dialogue, and extracting career-high performances from actors thought long past their prime or incapable of plumbing deeper depths. Dragged Across Concrete is not for those with limited patience, nor is it for viewers who are faint of heart. The pacing is deliberate, the brutality is hard-hitting. This is more policier than shoot-em-up, and it may be one of the best police dramas ever made.
Dragged Across Concrete
Directed by: S. Craig Zahler
Written by: S. Craig Zahler
Starring: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Laurie Holden, Jennifer Carpenter, Fred Melamed, Don Johnson, Tattiawna Jones, Udo Kier, Thomas Kretschmann, Myles Truitt
