Review
JAMIE EAST AT THE MOVIES
Dragged Across Concrete is film’s answer to Katie Hopkins
It's provocative and attempting to confront viewers with their subconscious prejudices - but it is naffly done
THERE are a hell of a lot of divisive movies out at the moment.
A weird point in the year where schedulers are either running scared from next week’s Endgame trample, or trying to sneak these little odd films out without much notice (Hellboy being farted out the same week as Game of Thrones and Star Wars celebration week for instance).
3
A couple of weeks ago we had Out Of Blue - a film which garnered five star rave reviews from a few - but absolutely zilch from me.
Here again, with S. Craig Zahler’s ‘Dragged Cross Concrete’, film critics are going all West Side Story with it. Two gangs staring incredulously at the others’ reviews.
Mel Gibson (a man sorely in need of a hit) and Vince Vaughan play two cops - Brett and Anthony respectively, who are old school; tempered, loose with regulations, and inherently pretty much racist, misogynistic pieces of work.
They are also the heroes of this film. Huh.
3
After being caught on video in which they are overtly violent and abusive towards their suspects in a bust - the two are suspended for six weeks without pay and are left to think about their future.
They don’t think too long, as within a matter of hours have decided to rob a drug dealer - for Anthony, it’s a way of being able to feel worthy of his potential fianceé - for Brett, a way to pay medical bills due to his sick wife.
Running parallel to this is Henry, fresh from jail, reunited with his prostitute drug-addict mother and wheelchair-bound brother. Again, as a means to an end, Henry decides on ‘one more job’ to get them out of the hole.
As the two stories collide, the story just goes nuts - and not really in a good way.
3
You can see Zahler is being provocative and attempting to confront viewers with their subconscious prejudices - but it really is pretty naffly done.
For starters, this film is over two and and half hours long, with the majority of that flab given to extend dialogue scenes such as stakeouts, with the aim to give them a sense of realness. All I got from that was cramp.
Then there’s the deliberately needling script, which thinks it’s far clever than it is. Among the clunky statements were zingers such as: “Is this a guy or a girl singing this song?” “Can’t tell.” “Not that there’s much of a difference these days.”
Or the classic: “If we don’t move out of this neighbourhood, we’re going to wind up at a hospital, talking to a rape counsellor.”
most read in film
I’m not convinced tackling your own desiccated public image by playing, basically how everyone imagines you are, was a wise move for Gibson either. Some circles might call it “brave” but to me it felt ill-judged.
So yes it’s uncompromising and unapologetically unpleasant, but it’s also mediocre, boring and tries far too hard to be controversial. Film’s answer to Katie Hopkins.
Dragged Across Concrete (18)
★☆☆☆☆