Day: April 18, 2019

Director: S. Craig Zahler

Writer: S. Craig Zahler (Screenplay)

Starring: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Jennifer Carpenter, Michael Jai White, Don Johnson, Laurie Holden

 

Plot: Once two overzealous cops get suspended from the force, they must delve into the criminal underworld to get their proper compensation.

Tagline – Those Who Can’t Earn A Living Must Find Another Way To Provide.

Runtime: 2 Hours 39 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: More like Drags Long Concrete

 

Story: Dragged Across Concrete starts with Henry Jones (Kittles) released from prison, returning to the world he knows to sort out his life. We move onto Brett (Gibson) and Anthony (Vaughn) a couple of police detectives completing their latest bust, who can go over the top when it comes to completing the job which ha gained the attention of their captain LT Calvert (Johnson).

With the pair suspended, Brett starts to think about the future and the fact he wants to move his family out of a rough neighbourhood, because his wife Melanie (Holden) in ex-officer who is sick and teenage daughter are attracting the wrong attention. The pair decide to turn to a life of crime by taking on drug dealers to make the money they deserve.

 

Thoughts on Dragged Across Concrete

 

Characters – Brett is an older police officer, he hasn’t gotten the promotions his former partners have in the past, his wife is an sick ex-cop, he has a teenage daughter and gets rough on his cases. He needs to find enough money to move his family out of the neighbourhood, which sees him take on a potential drug dealer for money. Anthony is the younger partner, preparing to propose of his girlfriend, he is loyal to Brett, which seems him wanting to help Brett during their suspension. Henry is the ex-con that has returned to the life of crime with no option, but to. Biscuit is the connection for Henry, he gets the jobs they can go on together. Kelly is the new mother facing her first day back at work, she is struggling with separation she is facing. LT Calvert is the man forced to suspend the to officers, he was once the partner of Brett and challenges him on why he has never gotten higher up the system.

Performances – Mel Gibson is perfectly cast in this role, he is an older cop that is left with no option, he gets to preach about problems that have affected his own career too. Vince Vaughn doesn’t do anything wrong in his role, showing a much more serious side to his abilities.  We do have a big cast here, each actors do what is needed for their roles.

Story – The story here follows two suspended cops that turn to a life of crime, an ex-con looking for one big score and the big score that is done by the psychotic gang. The idea of a cop turned to a life of crime is one we have seen before and works, the idea an ex-con will do one more job to escape the life has been done before, in fact the whole basic concept of this film has been done before. The problems with the story here comes from the pacing, we might have some clever dialogue, but we get a lot of seemingly pointless scenes too, which just drag for way too long. The story being as simple as it is, doesn’t need to be two and half hours long, there is one character who get introduced for no apparent reason that waste a good 10-15 minutes of the story too.

Action/Crime – The action in the film comes from just how this director tends to us the style of explosive body parts, the crime side follows the one incident which takes out character on their mission in search for what they want most in the world.

Settings – The film puts us in the big city which shows the divide in the neighbourhoods, it shows how each side of the city the people have come from.

Special Effects – The effects used are what we have seen from the director before, they look for explosive weapon injuries.

Scene of the Movie – Showdown.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – This movie is about 50 Minutes too long.

Final Thoughts – This is an overly long action crime film, that just goes on way too long for what is a simple story.

 

Overall: Just too long.

Rating

 

 

Director: Guy Ritchie

Writer: Guy Ritchie (Screenplay)

Starring: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Karel Roden, Toby Kebbell

 

Plot: Lenny Cole, a London mob boss, puts the bite on all local real estate transactions. For substantial fees, he’s helping Uri Omovich, a Russian developer. As a sign of good faith, Omovich loans Cole a valuable painting, promptly stolen off Cole’s wall. While Cole’s men, led by the dependable Archie, look for the canvas, three local petty criminals, the Wild Bunch, steal money from the Russian using inside information from his accountant, the lovely Stella. Meanwhile, a local drug-addled rocker, Johnny Quid, is reported drowned, and his connection to Cole is the key to unraveling the deceits and double crosses of life in the underworld.

Tagline – A story of sex, thugs and rock ‘n roll.

Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Over Saturated Film

 

Story: RocknRolla starts when One Two (Butler) and Mumbles (Elba) learn the hard way how London mobster Lenny Cole (Wilkinson) operates, needing to collect a large amount of money. Lenny is in the middle of a big deal with a Russian Uri Omovich (Roden) that would be the biggest of his career.

When a piece of art gets stolen Lenny is put under pressure to return the art work to Uri, he turns to his right-hand man Archy (Strong) to get it back, turning to One Two for help as we see how the underworld coming together to get one up on each other.

 

Thoughts on RocknRolla

 

Characters – One Two is the leader of the Wild Bunch, he gets left owing a lot of money within the month and it soon becomes his connections that help with the mystery about where a painting is hiding as he plans to solve his own problems. Mumbles is the best friend in the Wild Bunch, he is the one that One Two turns to for advice through the problems. Lenny Cole is the mobster that runs London, he has everyone in his pocket to get what he wants, with his greed taking over when he can have a deal with a billionaire Russian, though his past could cause the trouble in this deal. Stella is the accountant that has each party doing her dealings, she knows how to have each side in the palm of her hands. Archy is the one telling the story, he has the right-hand man for Lenny and the go between all the different sides of the underworld. In this film we do get too many characters with so many different arcs going on through the film.

Performances – The acting in this film is good from the whole cast, we have a large cast which does hinder them from getting a true star turn in this film. Butler, Wilkinson, Newton, Strong, Elba, Hardy all show how they can become good at making moments of impact in shorter scenes.

Story – The story here follows three levels of mobsters as they deal with a deal gone bad as they are trying to stay ahead of each other, in typical Ritchie storytelling we get thrown all over the place with the story telling and miss the most interesting action aspects of the film. when it comes to the criminal underworld side of the story, we don’t get anything new with generic characters who just go through the emotions that don’t always make us enjoy the characters we are enjoy watching.

Action/Crime – The action is disappointing because we have scenes which should be good, only Ritchie’s style of shooting chops too much hiding the best parts. The crime world created is good because we see just how many different levels of the crime world we are entering.

Settings – The film is set in London which is good for the film because if these type of deals are happening it would need to be in a busy city location like London.

Scene of the Movie – Sporting goods fight.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The action editing.

Final Thoughts – This is your typical British gangster film, it has its own flair which can help and hinder the film at times, we have too many characters to stay on top of which only disappoints with the storytelling process.

 

Overall: Typical mobster movie.

Rating