4 out of 5

Directed by: S. Craig Zahler

This is, uh, not a sentimental movie.  It’s also, out of the current trio of focused-menace flicks writer / director S. Craig Zahler has delivered – Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99 – his most effective and accomplished, without resorting to some of the gritty shock applied in those previous efforts.  Regarding which: don’t get me wrong – Bone and Brawl had very specific m.o.s, and the bursts of gore or violence were part of that, but Dragged Across Concrete, which Zahler allows to run at nearly two hours and forty minutes, exists in a pure state of tension throughout, with the threat of brutality gluing you nervously to your seat with each gun drawn.

Many guns are drawn.  And it’s not bloodless by any means.  And, as most reviews have commented, there is the curiosity of how much we’re meant to read into the casting of Mel Gibson as a ‘casually’ racist cop, suspended for brutality on the job; whether or not some of the political jabs in the dialogue are opinions or just character; what we should make of some of the more quickly disposed-of cast members…  In interview, Zahler maintains that his approach is strictly from a story perspective, and Dragged, frankly, makes a very strong case for that: I recently watched, and mostly loathed, The Shield – a show about a racist, corrupt cop – because of its conflicted sense of what should earn our sympathy or our ire; a few days later, I’m watching this film, and fully enmeshed in this make-or-break attempt to score some cash by Brett (Gibson) and partner Anthony (Vince Vaughn).  Scenes which would feel ridiculously unmotivated as part of a lesser script or less confident direction – scenes during which Anthony eats a sandwich, no cuts, in silence; or just-outta-the-joint Henry (Tory Kittles) recalls a memory of a birthday party during an otherwise quiet drive – all feel like purposeful scene dressing; everything does feel in service of telling this one story.

And the casting, frankly, is perfect.  Vaughn is always a bit stiff, but Gibson’s calm, fact-by-fact cop persona is a guideline for him, and he bounces off of that really well, selling the duo’s partnership.  Kittles is entrancing when on screen, as the recruited driver (along with his friend, Biscuit – Michale Jai White) for a bank heist, and although Zahler’s use of women in his very masculine movie makes for some questionably limited roles, Jennifer Carpenter, Laurie Holden, and Tattiawna Jones are all excellent enhancements to Concrete’s moody, oppressive vibe.

There are no ‘rules’ in the movie.  That’s its lack of sentimentality.  While on the one hand, that can make it feel rather flat – what’s the climax?  What’s the payoff?  What’s the point? – this is Zahler’s most real, grounded application of that approach.  And, interestingly, stripped – to a degree – of the grindhouse elements of Bone Tomahawk and Brawl, that grit and grounding hits with notably more impact.