The Drop

The Drop, the latest film from writer/director Michael R. Roskam is a gritty, tense, and grown up film with a story line that you can definitely sink your teeth into. The Drop will keep you guessing from the first frame to the end of the film and it is exceptional in between those two points. It's not my pick for best film of the year so far, just the second best and because of that I give The Drop five buckets of Killer Korn.












This is the movie so many other films this year aspired to be (yes I am talking about you Equalizer and A Walk Among The Tombstones), and it's a movie that you just may want to see twice. I know I do. The performances were amazing, from top billed on down there was no weak link in the chain and the story was truly well crafted. Why this movie is receiving such very little buzz is beyond me but I will rant and rave about it until everyone else catches up with it. The Drop is adapted from a short story called Animal Rescue by master storyteller Dennis Lehane who in turn wrote the screenplay (nothing beats continuity). The Drop was so good that I now want to read that story. The movie stars Tom Hardy as Bob, and I have to say I was truly impressed by his performance. Based on the last film I saw him in I didn't think he had something like this in him. He's joined by Noomi Rapace who plays the closed off and walled in Nadia, John Ortiz who plays the wise religious Detective Torres, Matthias Schoenaerts who plays the mentally unstable Eric Deeds, and in his last role ever there's James Gandolfini who plays the scheming Cousin Marv.

The story opens with the audience being clued in that throughout the city there are bars that are drop bars, collecting all sorts of dirty money from those that deal in it. The kind of money no one wants the government knowing about. Those bars never know when they are going to be designated a drop bar until maybe a day or two in advance and Cousin Marv's bar, Cousin Marv is the drop bar du jour. The story starts with the bar being held up at gunpoint after a day of collecting all sorts of illegal monies from an assortment of characters. Bob notices something about one of the robbers and tell Detective Torres, but on the flip side of that, the people that now own Cousin Marv want the money that was taken and they want Cousin Marv and Bob to get them their money. At the same time this is going on, Bob adopts an abused but adorable pit bull puppy he found in one of Nadia's garbage cans on his way home. Dennis finds a way to weave these two stories together as only he can and Tom Hardy brings Bob to life in such a way that will make you pick your jaw up off the floor at the end.

The Drop as stated above is the kind of adult fare one can really sink their teeth in. They can slap down their money or card, purchase a ticket, and walk out utterly satisfied that what they just saw was how movies should be done today. Every facet of movie making is done flawlessly here. From direction, production design, lighting, acting, to cinematography no complaints can be lodged, no fault can be found. I went to see The Drop simply because Dennis Lehane is one of my favorite writers, little did I know that this movie would possess a redeeming performance by Hardy AND one great last performance from Gandolfini. Cousin Marv isn't a stretch from Tony Soprano but it was a role Gandofini knows how to portray convincingly and does. The score by Marco Betrami was subtle and beautiful, heartbreaking almost and a job well done. All in all The Drop is a MUST SEE film. It can even be placed on the MUST SEE AGAIN list, and if you do you just may see me on line. I'll see you at the theater!