Dragged Across Concrete Movie Review

Dragged Across Concrete (2018)

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Written by: S. Craig Zahler
Directed by: S. Craig Zahler
Starring: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, Laurie Holden, Don Johnson
Rated: R
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Plot
Two overzealous cops get suspended for assaulting a suspect and then delve into the criminal underworld to get the compensation they deserve.

Verdict
This is the kind of movie that wears you down from anticipation. While it takes time to establish the characters, the pace doesn't change. What changes with the inciting incident of a robbery is that violence could erupt at any moment and frequently does. While I doubted this film in the beginning, from the robbery forward is an experience. Zahler has crafted something remarkable. While focused and bleak, it has sharp dialog and a satisfying plot. It's unfortunate this hasn't gotten more attention.
Watch it.

Review
I'm a fan of Zahler. Bone Tomahawk (read my review) was great. After that movie I knew I'd watch anything else Zahler did, and it's the reason I watched the pretty good follow up, Brawl in Cell Block 99 (read my review).

While initially planned for a wide theatrical release, Zahler refused to shorten the movie and it got a limited theater and direct to digital release. None of Zahler's films have gotten a wide release.

I wasn't sure Dragged Across Concrete would live up to Zahler's other films. It definitely felt like a slow burn type of movie, but the dialog is quite flowery, to the point of distraction. It just sounds try hard. Surprisingly Vaughn's character's favorite word "anchovies" isn't as comical as you'd expect. Aside from word choice, the dialog is very sharp. By the time I got to the end I really liked this movie. Bone Tomahawk is slightly above it, but this movie is very good.

At first this felt similar to True Detective Season 2 with Vaughn playing a criminal character and very indulgent language, but that's where the similarities stop thankfully.

There are a couple different arcs I was sure would collide. Vaughn and Gibson play cops that are suspended for assaulting a suspect. White and Kittles are getting ready to do something illegal with Kittles fresh out of jail, and then you have somebody with very nice equipment knocking over convenience stores.

With how slow the setup was, it surprised me that Gibson's character Ridgeman is going all in on the first night of his suspension. He's going to rob a criminal with his justification being he's not a cop. That and he's finally moving out of his neighborhood when his daughter is assaulted yet again.

Vaughn's character Lurasetti joins Ridgeman, but states he's in until he's not. Whenever you see a cop drive a Cadillac, like Lurasetti, you assume they're dirty. While it isn't directly addressed, Ridgeman does tell Lurasetti to put the fake plates on the car which means he already had them.

Ridgeman is driving an '80s Chevrolet, a quintessential cop car in '80s movies. It has to be a sendup.

The different plot arcs collide, and there's even a White Girls moment. Zahler is very deliberate with this movie, and it works to his advantage. These characters have just a little bit more meaning with establishing scenes. He even plays with that in setting up the bank robbery. This is indeed a bank robbery with Ridgeman and Lurasetti torn between calling it in or getting paid. They watch as violence is unleashed.

Once the robbery occurs, this movie gets intense. It's still slow burning, but you realize that almost everyone is in over their heads. The guys that orchestrated the robbery are cut throat, surprising everyone else with how quick they are to violence and murder. Things could go wrong at any point. You've got Kittles and White's characters posing as security guards driving a getaway van for the big time criminals, and they're trying to figure out how they'll get out alive when men with automatic weapons are right behind them.
Rigdeman and Lurasetti are following the van trying to figure out how they'll rob it.

The movie just gets bleaker as it progresses. There's certainly some gore, and while it's brief it's very graphic. I'd call it one of the most graphic movies I've seen, but I've already seen Bone Tomahawk.

I doubted the foundation this way laying, but it delivers. While the dialog doesn't sound like how normal people talk, it does have a level of charm. There's also nice symmetry with dialog between characters and repeated lines. The movie is intense and focused, completely delivering.