Dragged Across Concrete **** (2018, Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Thomas Kretschmann) – Movie Review

Writer-director S Craig Zahler’s epic action crime thriller Dragged Across Concrete is slow and talky, but just this one time maybe this proves a good thing, and it delivers really strongly over its extended two hours 40 minutes running time, with some tense and intense scenes, an eerie, doomy atmosphere, and finally some great action in the brio final 40 minutes.

By the end, though visiting some familiar ground, Dragged Across Concrete puts a fresh spin on the cop thriller (not a fresh gloss, as it is extremely dark and noirish throughout) and achieves very considerable status and importance. It goes for an impression of realism, strong and focused, nerve-janglingly realistic, but it remains stylised and neo noir, definitely a movie version of reality. It plays like a sophisticated comment on and critique of buddy buddy cop movies, especially Mel Gibson’s Lethal Weapon films.

At its centre, there is a very, very good star role for Mel Gibson, and he is very, very good as Brett Ridgeman, the overzealous veteran cop suspended from the force by Chief Lieutenant Calvert (Don Johnson), along with his partner Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn), who decide to use their free time to join the criminal to get some proceeds from some crime action masterminded by Lorentz Vogelmann (Thomas Kretschmann). Tough, canny and clever though they are, so are the criminals, and pretty soon the two cops are in too deep.

Gibson and Vaughn have almost all the film to themselves, but the plot also concerns Tory Kittles as Henry Johns, Michael Jai White as Biscuit, Jennifer Carpenter as Kelly Summer, Laurie Holden as Melanie Ridgeman, Udo Kier as the sinister crook Friedrich and Fred Melamed as the bank manager Mr Edmington.

Surprisingly, it has an 18 certificate, and certainly has strong violence, grisly images, some strong language, and some sexuality/nudity, but it is not particularly violent, and is noticeably low and sparing on any foul language. This is not a Martin Scorsese film. With a lot of realistic mumbling, some of the dialogue is hard to make out, as hard as people’s faces are most of the time with the dark shooting.

This is proper film-making, made in Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia) and costing $15,000,000. Lacking youth appeal, it is kind of an old bloke’s film, so that’s good then for a change, but it could also pick up lots of youthful cred from its trendy director and sheer authoritative great film-making.

Gibson directed Vaughn in Hacksaw Ridge (2016) in a role designed to be played by Gibson. Vaughn showed Gibson the screenplay for Dragged Across Concrete, and talked-up Zahler and Gibson agreed to star immediately. Vaughn appeared in Zahler’s Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), along with Johnson, Jennifer Carpenter and Udo Kier.

It is rumoured that Lionsgate requested the film be edited down to an audience friendly 130 minutes but Zahler had a final cut clause in his contract and the studio decided to release the film uncut in a limited theatrical run and same day digital through Summit Entertainment on 22 March 2019. It is released by StudioCanal in the UK and Gibson’s Icon Film Distribution in Australia. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 3 September 2018 and at the London Film Festival on 16 October 2018.

It is Zahler’s third movie after Bone Tomahawk (2015) and Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017). He also wrote the screenplay for Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Movie Review

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