‘Dragged Across Concrete’ is the third feature from writer / director S. Craig Zahler who, in 2015, brought us ‘Bone Tomahawk’ the cult western which (ahem!) separated itself from the rest of the genre’s fayre with a moment so shocking, audience members would have done well to hold on to their breakfasts. His follow up, 2018’s ‘Brawl In Cell Block 99’ is equally gathering fan buzz and judging from the title, is probably not going to appease audiences eagerly awaiting the next series of Call The Midwife.
‘Dragged Across Concrete’ has a title befitting exploitation or grindhouse cinema and its trailer promises wit, hard-boiled detectives, violence and ski-masks that prompt comparisons to the crime classic ‘Heat’. It is the tale of two cops (played by Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughan) who are suspended from active duty without pay despite making a successful bust, because a civilian filmed them on a mobile phone as they used excessive force on the drug dealer that they were taking down. Faced with six weeks without pay, at a time in their lives where they really need money to better their personal circumstances, the partners hatch a plot to shakedown a criminal who is in town and up to no good. As they stalk their quarry, it becomes apparent that these men don’t know what the crime is that they’re going to intercept and profit from, and that they have underestimated their opponents. The film introduces many sympathetic and three-dimensional characters, so that the tension builds steadily as we watch their stories converging towards the as yet, unrevealed criminal plot.
In the first two acts Zahler creates a crime thriller that steadily cranks the tension so effectively it borders on becoming a horror film. Gibson and Vaughan are well cast as the bickering cops with a jaundiced outlook, even if their character arcs demand little range from either performance, whilst Tory Kittles as Henry ‘slim’ Johns, the small-time hood unable to return to the straight and narrow after his release from prison, elicits more sympathy through a nuanced performance. Despite feeling that the film could afford more pace, it is undeniable that it holds you in its grip like you’re a cable-tied hostage, wide-eyed and breathlessly awaiting the inevitable outburst that your captor is clearly building up to. But this film makes you wait for it, instead building character motivation through conversations in cars, diners or apartments. One conversational scene strikes me as a real mis-step because it featured Vince Vaughan happily extolling the problems of saying something racist which, if caught on film, means you’re branded a racist for life, whilst Mel Gibson (y’know Mel – filmed spouting anti-semitic nonsense whilst blind drunk on a roadside DUI stop and calling the police officer sugar***s - Gibson. Yeah THAT Mel Gibson!!!) snorts agreeably with him. The audience are positioned with uncomfortably right-wing protagonists with no explicit signs of irony, so be warned.
I can be critical about the pace, or the ideologies on show, but ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ is compelling stuff for two thirds and when the final act places all of the story components together in one arena setting for a final showdown, you’re practically rubbing your hands together in nervous expectation. But sadly, it never fulfils its promise. Having introduced villains who are superior in numbers, skill, weaponry, planning and cruel single-mindedness, Zahler completely fumbles their impact. The climax has so much potential in the chosen location, in the physical placement of characters, hell it even makes detailed and explicit references to objects (both through camera shots and repetition of dialogue) that could ramp up the ante, but they get discarded. There are moments of tension that equal the tense build up to Heat’s astonishing LA gun battle, or set ups that are reminiscent of Ben Wheatley’s gleefully bonkers ‘Free Fire’, but Zahler bypasses their potential. By the time the film has limped to its anti-climax, its hard not to feel a little let down, having been promised so much.
The final coda makes a call-back to an earlier scene as though what the character says sums up his behaviour in the film… and it is puzzlingly nothing like what he did. It is also such an improbable epilogue, which looks like a Kardashian cheese-dream, that it completely defies logic. The film’s title ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ cannot be taken literally, but along with the inclusion of aged-stars in need of rehabilitation, it implies some serious B-Movie credentials and promises some abrasive and gnarly shenanigans will ensue. Unfortunately, it doesn’t live up to its name. As I emerged from Cinema 4 of HOME, I could only think of this cheap summary: I bought a ticket for ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ and boy did I get my money’s worth. There was a lot of concrete and the final act really dragged.
Reviewer - Ben Hassouna-Smith
on - 19/4/19
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