Thank you, OddRob, for bringing this film to my (and others) attention. I've never heard of this project. It is not showing in my area at present, and it looks like it might be a limited release*, but I'll keep my eyes open for it and will probably give it a rent on disk if I can't catch it in a theater (I am fortunate to have a well-stocked Family Video in my town).

I've enjoyed Gibson's gritty films of the recent past-- such as Edge of Darkness and Get the Gringo --and Dragged Across Concrete looks to be in the same vein. Thanks again for your short review.

*: or it could just be because I live in the "flyover" part of the U.S.; we often only get the big releases in the theaters, while we get mostly passed by when it comes to smaller films :(

@northcoast said:

Thank you, OddRob, for bringing this film to my (and others) attention. I've never heard of this project. It is not showing in my area at present, and it looks like it might be a limited release*, but I'll keep my eyes open for it and will probably give it a rent on disk if I can't catch it in a theater (I am fortunate to have a well-stocked Family Video in my town).

I've enjoyed Gibson's gritty films of the recent past-- such as Edge of Darkness and Get the Gringo --and Dragged Across Concrete looks to be in the same vein. Thanks again for your short review.

*: or it could just be because I live in the "flyover" part of the U.S.; we often only get the big releases in the theaters, while we get mostly passed by when it comes to smaller films :(

Its on VOD so you should be able to find it online no problem. Gibson is def on top of his game with this one, even if the dialogue is written a little weird.

Oh, I forgot one . . . Blood Father was also good (in my opinion). Thank you for the VOD suggestion.

it was nice movie for me personally with kinda similar feel as Good time, but they killed it with pace, could easily cut half an hour and it would still won't be rushed, still prefer Good time over this

Not as good as previous films, but still very good. Looking forward for the next one.

@mechajutaro said:

Guy who brought us Bone Tomahawk failed to exploit a prime opportunity for fleshing out Gibson's character a bit more here, especially considering that he's a disgraced cop exiled on account of his brutality being captured on tape. Could've introduced a dynamic rarely seen in contemporary American cinema, by depicting dude as a virulent anti-Semite who pummels a Jewish civilian within inches of his life during a routine traffic stop, loudly professing his devotion to fighting Zionist control of the media wherever and whenever he can do so. Vaughn, as his partner, could've been depicted as a staunch non-conspiracy theorist who nonetheless remains loyal to his colleague out of forged-in-the-urban-battlefield affection

I realise you are being facetious, but the callouts to events in Gibson's real life in this movie, specifically the dialogue with Don Johnson's character, are cringeworthy. It was entirely unnecessary to the story and I for one would have preferred less of this self indulgent 'fleshing out' of the characters rather than more.

As for the back stories of the characters, this is Zahler (somewhat artlessly) mining tropes. The cop nearing retirement flipping to support his struggling family; the younger cop killed after he has bought the engagement ring; the new mum killed on her first day back at work; the 'urban' black gangsta coming out of prison going after that one last heist that will set him and his family for life; the sociopathic hitman who kills as tho he is just out for a fun afternoon; the heavily accented foreign mastermind who is not only a master criminal but an accomplished anatomist: it just goes on and tediously on.

I don't know whether Zahler is trying to be funny with all this stuff, and I could add 'anchovies' and a 2 minute burger eating scene and the bonkers dialogue to this, but it certainly isn't funny. It reeks of a smart arse writer thinking he knows enough about movies to be able to homage (or parody) them, but only succeeds in looking like a show off.