Screened Out – The Drop

[four-star-rating]Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace[/four-star-rating]

Do you long for an autumnal chill? You may find something cold to drink with The Drop. This gritty, violent, inner-city thriller may have some faults – mostly a boring title and a sluggish first act – but the performances, especially Hardy’s tantalizing role, deliver a short crime drama worth a watch.

Novelist Dennis Lehane wrote the script; he also provided the source material for Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River. This brief film is of the same brew as those flicks. The Drop is based on a short story, “Animal Rescue,” also be Lehane.

Hardy is a mild-mannered bartender at his cousin Gandolfini’s bar. Gandolfini ran into some trouble nearly a decade earlier and had to sell the bar to Chechen mobsters. The place still maintains his name, but mostly, this hole-in-the-wall is a drop-off point for crime money (thus, the dull title). Gandolfini cannot seem to live down this demotion.

One night while Gandolfini and Hardy are closing up, the place is robbed. It’s not a professional job – or even a huge take – but the Chechens want their money back. They start to seriously and violently pressure Hardy and Gandolfini to help them find the idiots responsible.

This is one of James Gandolfini's last completed film roles.
This is one of James Gandolfini’s last completed film roles.

Englishman Hardy is absolutely mesmerizing portraying a Brooklyn boy – simple and sincere, with a solid accent. He’s so understated and ineloquent that we could wonder whether he’s slightly mentally disabled. His tenderness shows through when he adopts an abused puppy and starts a halting romance with a Chechen waitress, played by Rapace (the Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Hardy is so strong that, in a slightly better film, he may have earned some award buzz.

The Drop is one of the few films Gandolfini finished before he passed away. Here, he’s closer to his Tony Soprano days than any other movie role he’s had. He and Hardy have a strong familial sensibility, one that hints at their rough, dirty adolescence.

That’s not to say the film is perfect. It’s slow to get started, and it lacks complexity. One or two more complications at the beginning – a few plot twists that are not red herrings – would have helped immensely.

[rating-key]

However, believe it or not, once the real violence kicks in, the film becomes wildly entertaining. The second half feels giddy, a speedy, bloody thriller in every sense. A few gory moments might even elicit giggles. The film keeps picking up pace, revealing its secrets and flourishes right up until the end.

These are mean streets that Lehane has trod many a time before. In fact, Gandolfini’s Brooklyn bar at the center of The Drop may not at first seem worth a stop. Hardy’s tight performance and the delightfully nerve-racking ending will prove that this is a crime thriller served in a frosty cold mug, totally worth savoring.

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