Writer/director S. Craig Zahler’s movies are like demonstration playgrounds for his imagination.
Working within smaller budgets, he sacrifices widespread box-office appeal for final cut and niche fandom.
And while on the surface, 2018’s Dragged Across Concrete is the most grounded of his three movies to date, it’s still a long, indulgent work belonging to Zahler’s pseudo-reality more than ours.
The film was influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s noir The Killing.
Zahler also had two films by Sidney Lumet in mind: his Al Pacino classic Dog Day Afternoon and corrupt cop thriller Prince of the City.
And Dragged Across Concrete plays out as gritty as its vivid title implies – a morality tale unfolding with desperate players on opposite sides of the law.
Except that line between moral and amoral is drawn in No.2 pencil, if at all.
Reviews since its release have been mixed to positive, not quite the film fan acclaim I’ve seen out there for Zahler’s previous movies.
But despite these potential warning signs, I had faith that Zahler’s creativity could come out on top again.
So is Dragged Across Concrete a good movie?
The Plot of Dragged Across Concrete:
Henry Johns (Tory Kittles) has just been released from prison. But finding his family living in squalor, he may just be ready to risk a trip back. He needs money and fast.
Luckily, Henry’s longtime friend Biscuit (Michael Jai White) has the lead on a new criminal in town looking to hire some experienced help.
Meanwhile, Detective Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and his partner, Detective Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn), get caught in a police brutality video scandal and are suspended.
When Ridgeman decides to solve his money problems by using unlawful means, he lures Lurasetti to help.
The Rest of the Main Cast Includes:
- Jennifer Carpenter as Kelly Summer
- Laurie Holden as Melanie Ridgeman
- Jordyn Ashley Olson as Sara Ridgeman
- Fred Melamed as Mr. Edmington
- Udo Kier as Friedrich
- Tattiawna Jones as Denise
- Justine Warrington as Chery
- Myles Truitt as Ethan Johns
- Liannet Borrego as Rosalinda
- Vanessa Bell Calloway as Jennifer Johns
- Noel G. as Vasquez
- Don Johnson as Chief Lieutenant Calvert
- Primo Allon as Black Gloves
- Matthew MacCaull as Grey Gloves
- Thomas Kretschmann as Lorentz Vogelmann
- Richard Newman as Feinbaum
The Good Things:
Die-Yeah-Log, +2 Points
Zahler lathers his dialogue with a bubbling theatrical quality.
Yet while at moments it came across a little hokey in Bone Tomahawk, Concrete’s batch of words rang sharp.
You’d think the well of fresh takes on cop dramas dried up two decades ago. Yet Ridgeman and Lurasetti get lovingly irritated with each other in a buddy-cop way that rehydrates the formula.
On a stakeout, Ridgeman quips that a single ant could eat Lurasetti’s sandwich faster than he can.
And when things inevitably get heavy, Lurasetti sums everything up with, “This is bad for you; it’s bad for me. It’s bad like lasagna in a can.”
As a writer, they are lines you wish you had written.
The Quiet, Long Style of Zahler, +3 Points
With two hours and thirty-nine minutes runtime, Zahler gives himself the freedom to take his time and does so.
Few other filmmakers would let Vince Vaughn’s Lurasetti crunch away at a sandwich for several minutes.
But that’s not to say he’s adding dead air.
Even if a scene is a quiet time with the characters, he’s filling them or the world they inhabit out.
And the length partially frees his film.
Given their time constraints, films are often beholden to structure — you must advance the plot to fit it all in.
But with the extra length and winding style, Concrete buries its plot rails deeper.
The film doesn’t have to signal to its audience, hey, pay attention, because this is the inciting incident around the ~25th minute. Or, look, buckle up for the conclusion now. There’s enough slack to let it glide.
And Zahler delivers it all straight, adding to our surprise.
Ridgeman and Lurasetti are suspended for a video of them brutalizing a suspect.
Another movie would likely show Ridgeman with his foot on the man’s throat at the fire escape and cut to someone filming it on their phone a short distance away.
Instead, Zahler’s characters and audience find out about the video simultaneously, and we’re just as surprised as the officers.
And the cinematography adds to the anti-drama.
In an action scene, we don’t cue the audience that someone is going for their gun with cuts, building anticipation. Flat as a conversation, the characters raise their weapons when they want to and blast. And the audience is as shaken as the characters.
I’ve written about these aspects of Zahler’s quiet style before. Still, in Concrete, I noticed a new wrinkle: the plain tones strip away the heroism and plop the movie in more ambiguity.
Two people move, and one comes out on top. Bang. Done. It’s up to the audience to decide which had might or right on their side.
Performances, +2 Points
Mel Gibson plays the lead role of the rugged and worn-down Detective Ridgeman.
Nearing retirement age, Ridgeman is jaded from years of police work with a salary that keeps him in the wrong part of town – which he sees as some reward for all the criminals he’s taken off the streets.
Miscreants throw sodas at his daughter on her way home from school; his wife suffers from multiple sclerosis and is unable to work.
His options limited, he turns to crime to escape his circumstances.
With all the off-screen controversy and allegations surrounding Mel Gibson, his casting raises questions in my mind. I would imagine there could be discomfort for other audiences.
But there’s no doubt his performance objectively works. He portrays a family man trying to do something that he has to keep reassuring himself is his right.
And there’s his commanding officer, played by Don Johnson, of all people. As the film flashes to pictures of real-life young Mel and Don, Mr. Lethal Weapon and Mr. Miami Vice side-by-side, it reinforces the roles even harder – Mr. Smooth and politically savvy going one way, Mr. beat cop cycling partners and staying put.
Tory Kittles puts in a searing performance as Henry. He hints that Henry is foxier than he comes across to those who would cross him.
And Vince Vaughn shines as Lurasetti, the partner in law and now in crime. He’s more refined than Ridgeman, but Vaughn plays him with a steel that helps you understand how he’s earned Ridgeman’s respect.
Dark World, Darker Needs, +1 Point
Similar to Zahler’s Brawl in Cell Block 99, it’s a necessity that drives people in the film, not a “good” or “bad” agenda.
Whether it’s Henry’s decision to return to crime or Ridgeman’s first foray into it, there’s hardly a difference between the two, if at all. Both men just want to help their family.
This time around, the heroes and villains are not as clear, if at all. The cowboys and cannibals of Zahler’s chilling Bone Tomahawk were easy to separate. And though his thrilling Brawl in Cell Block 99 was centered around a criminal, he was, at heart, a family guy in a tough-as-nails spot.
Here, we’re not sure, and it’s a strength of the movie.
Off the Beaten Path, +1 Point
**Spoiler Alerts Here**
Thanks most likely to Zahler’s creative control, the film branches into subplots most other movies aren’t allowed.
For example, the film abruptly switches to following Kelly Summer, who has an otherworldly case of separation anxiety from her young child.
Despite her new baby leave being up, she ditches the bus to work, rushing home in a panic. Her husband pleads with her to go back and earn for the family, speaking to her through the chain in the door.
With a kiss of her child’s wiggling feet, she’s off.
And she returns to an otherworldly workplace. Her manager, overly gracious at her arrival, and the faces of all the other employees, all pausing to congratulate her on her child and welcome her back — it’s like a feel-good commercial, a bubble fake world.
This bright tonal shift and side character pivot should be jarring and nonsensical, but it works.
We see these unfortunate employees for what they come to be: lambs about to enter danger.
Most studios would toss this to the cutting room floor, but Zahler was able to preserve scenes like this. And the film is a more enjoyable experience for it.
The Not-As-Good Things:
Sup with Your Salary, Bro? -1 Point
Ok, call it a nitpick here.
But even though Lurasetti and Ridgeman are partners, Lurasetti dines on wine and has what looks like a jazz-themed penthouse. At the same time, Ridgeman holes up with his family on the wrong side of town.
While Ridgeman has two more people to feed, I didn’t understand how he could be so desperate for cash while his partner, Lurasetti, has the bills to keep things stylish and plunk down for expensive engagement rings.
A Realistic Turn? -1 Point
Ridgeman is suspended for police brutality. And I bought his non-calculated, physically reactionary cruelty, like putting his foot on a suspect’s head. That’s the type of indiscretion that you can see borne from years of frustration.
But when you get a rounded picture of his character, his other actions fall out of sync.
After she’s harassed on the streets, Ridgeman invites his daughter to watch a lion cubs documentary with him to calm her.
But you have to believe the same loving father, earlier that day, dragged a naked woman suspect into a shower, refused to let her get dressed after he made her dripping wet, and turned on the fans in the bedroom to make her even colder and uncomfortable as he interrogated her.
This type of code-switching happens with mobsters on film (think Joe Pesci’s frightening Nicky Santoro in Casino coming home to make breakfast for his son after perhaps a night of shoving people’s heads into vices or worse). But I can’t buy the thoughtful cruelty from a grouchy officer who seems to have started his career on the moral high ground.
Still, this is another constructive criticism that doesn’t largely affect the film. The big picture of why Ridgeman becomes a desperate, line-crossing shadow Ridgeman is still clear.
Should I Watch Dragged Across Concrete?
Total Arbitrary Points Score: 7 Points
S. Craig Zahler has a gift for treading in muddy waters and coming out with an entertaining, thought-provoking film instead.
Dragged Across Concrete is a bleak morality tale. It’s a churning thriller that captivates you because, like in real life, where justice isn’t guaranteed, no outcome feels safe.
But it’s full of the rough stuff. It’s a long-running, morally challenging film that isn’t afraid to expose a few murky corners most films would swerve.
So if you’re in the mood for a popcorn film, this isn’t the ticket.
But if you have the patience and interest in an endurance challenge, there’s a unique vision waiting here for you to digest.
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Disclaimer:
This review’s factual information was gathered through online sources, like Wikipedia, IMDB, or interviews. Misrepresentations and errors are possible but unintentional.
Making art is hard. This is a fan’s blog. Any criticisms are meant to be constructive.
