The Drop

Review By: John Delia

Probably the darkest crime drama’s you’ll see this year (and that’s a good thing), the film The Drop takes you into the hazy world of crime that has only one way out, a body bag.  Stellar acting, fine executed direction and a suspense filled plot that will keep you glued to the screen.  The film does spool out at a steady slow pace, but the rewards are high for those who want one more chance to enjoy a final great performance on film by James Gandolfini.

The film centers on Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy), a bar tender at Cousin Marv’s tavern in Brooklyn. The bar is formerly owned by Marv (James Gandolfini) and now is in the hands of the Chechen mob that uses it for a drop point for their illegal gambling ring.  The mob has many locations and alternates the drops so no one can set up a robbery.  Marv’s been involved with the operation for eight years since losing the bar to the mob in exchange for a gambling debt.

One night, as Bob and Marv close for the evening, two thieves enter the bar and rob it of $5000 from the cash register.  But the mob boss Chovka (Michael Aronov) feels Marv should make up for the loss and puts pressure on him to find the robbers.  In the meantime, on the way home following the robbery, Bob finds a dog caught up in a garbage can outside Nadia’s (Noomi Rapace) house triggering a first time meeting between the two. 

When Investigating Detective Torres (John Ortiz) insinuates Marv and Bob had something to do with the robbery, things start to get very dicey. Adding a third hazard for Bob is a side story that involves Nadia and her ex-boyfriend Eric Deeds (Matthias Schoenaerts) a suspected murder. Director Michael R. Roskam keeps the film very suspenseful. It’s a taught sinister pressure cooker that builds as the movie progresses, takes some surprising twists and heads for a three choice ending.

Directing only his second film, Roskam does an incredible job of capturing the gritty scenes making them very gripping and foreboding. His supporting characters are very menacing creating a feeling that Marv and Bob have run out of options and facing certain death. The only uplift he provides is a morbid love story that hinges on Bob making it out of his impossible situation alive. Roskam even throws in a pit bull as a reminder that even an animal as fierce as Rocco has a soft side.

Both Hardy and Gandolfini give outstanding performances as the two bar workers that find themselves in the middle of a wrong side up situation.  It’s great to see the master of the Brooklyn way of life once again in the skin of a character like the kind he molded from the beginning of season one of “The Sopranos.”  He’s tough, demanding and never transparent leaving it to the audience to try and figure out if he’s on the right or wrong side within story’s arc.  Here he’s Tony of old, getting his hands dirty, covering up mistakes and fixing problems the crude way.  As Cousin Marv, I was totally mesmerized yet a bit depressed that I won’t be able to see another new movie role played by Gandolfini.  The Drop is a great hurrah and a bravo to a champ of silver screen.

Not to take anything away from Hardy, as he’s the one who actually makes the film work as this dead end bar tender that finds himself at the end of his rope.  Most fans should know him most for his role as the black sheep son who returns to his hometown to face his brother in a mixed martial arts championship in the movie Warrior.  Action lovers will recognize him for his blistering performance as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.  With an excellent chance to demonstrate his dramatic edge as Bob in this back alley crime drama, Hardy shows the stuff he’s made of and more.  His performance here may even be enough to earn him a nomination for an Oscar, it’s that good.

The very good cinematography gives the film that dark edge needed to show a dank Brooklyn with Marv’s seedy bar and browbeaten clientele. The streets are gray with a damp and dirty feel as winter starts to invade the city.  Camera angles catch it all from Bob’s chilly walk past Nadia’s two-story house to the sweat covered Marv who sits in his heated car at night outside his bar.  Close-ups show the fear in their faces as the Chechen mob boss puts pressure on both Marv and Bob.

The Drop has been rated R by the MPAA for some strong violence and pervasive language.  Body parts are shown from a dismembered body and there’s a scene of brutality.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A very good film for story, acting and direction. (B)