Dragged Across Concrete.

I knew about screenwriter S. Craig Zahler before he got a name in industry by some his works. Nothing attractive were in it. Same mood I had when he became also a director and made Bone Tomahawk, which after scrutiny of materials didn’t forward me for watching. Wasn’t sure about Dragged Across Concrete, but I decided to look on it, because I like Mel Gibson as an actor and as a person (except when he said about Jews.) and Lionsgate Studios usually distributes good films.

Dragged Across Concrete is a representor of American subgenre about weekdays of simple policemen or detectives. These movies occupy dark atmosphere with try to be a realistic and law workers are usually antiheroic characters, which can act near to criminals. Behind dangerous job they’re living in financial surviving. Absent of personal happiness pushes to a crime way, which lies in robberies. Too strange that these subgenre still haven’t a name. Maybe, dark cop film – first what came from my fantasy. Routed to this kind Dragged Across Concrete made from a stone. Typical for category movie got stereotyped in everything due of both specialties of Zahler. He miscarry tries to create unfriendly world with often tensing carved rock faces. In dialogs appeares out-of-body phrases or strange comparisons, which shows green shade of an author. Zahler also demonstrates it in directing with his fails in long shots and inability work with actors as shows Jennifer Carpenter with her instantly mood changing. The film not only about a couple of cops and band of robberies with a bank goal. Sometimes it’s a critique of modern society, but only about what know everybody and without risks. You will never hear “nigga” from a white character.

I wasn’t suffer until cut of fingers of Carpenter’s heroine and no reaction on it. Her line had a strange start and differs from others in absence of patterns as Mel Gibson’s sick wife and daughter is a subject of mockery or Vince Vaughn with typical short of relatives too wants money for own wedding. It looked watchable until this scene with Carpenter, which transformed movie in trash. I had a long laugh from guns killing men by air when was empty effect in shooting to chips. Conclusion act from a scene with a key became a bad theater of funny disguises (my sympathy goes to Michael Jackson’s faces.), stone talks and empty weapons. I relaxed only on Vince Vaughn’s hero unrealistic death, because he couldn’t cope with this role and I didn’t see implementation of his character. Almost all actors frequently were well in performance (except Latin girl in beginning, but it’s Zahler’s fail.) and Mel Gibson stayed in personage even with arriving of totally worst.     

                       

Films of this subgenre usually finishes with death of antihero cops. Dragged Across Concrete isn’t surprising and, despite of logic, was following to it. Zahler made an obvious film, mentioned a few sicknesses of modern society, but didn’t look for solutions and he wondered only when nothing and standard action went to trash.