Dragged Across Concrete

Another cinematic achievement from one of Deeper’s favourite directors, S Craig Zahler’s. Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn are two police detectives who find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics is leaked to the media. With little money and no options, the embittered policemen descend into the criminal underworld and find more than they bargained for waiting in the shadows. Dragged Across Concrete doesn’t drag. This is a long film, but there is something so horribly compelling about its unhurried slouch towards the precipice. Brett and Anthony are stuck together in the car for long periods of time, and Henry and Biscuit are also stuck together in their getaway van, with nothing much to do but dream of snacks. It’s like a road movie whose characters, or combatants, are circling round and round each other as if on some vast ring road before coming together for their grisly contest. Zahler doesn’t prioritise smart dialogue as such, despite the feel and structure being indebted to Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. Henry jeers knowingly at Brett’s bulletproof vest: it makes him look svelte, like a girdle. In fact, of course, it doesn’t do anything of the sort. Everything and everyone looks irreparably grisly.