by Joseph Rossi
After a few weeks of slumming in the late summer cinema dumping grounds, here comes a small crime film that I hope will find an audience. Director Michael R. Roskam’s The Drop does not break new ground but it proves good enough for a decent night at the movies.
The drop in the title refers to the name given to the place where gangsters dump their envelopes filled with cash for laundering purposes. The “drop” in this film is a seedy Brooklyn bar called Cousin Marv`s run by none other then Marv himself, played to quiet perfection by the late James Gandolfini. The bar was once his but is now under the ownership of a crime syndicate. Tending bar is Marv`s actual cousin Bob, played by Tom Hardy, who is our main focus here.
Soft spoken, quiet, Bob, like Marv, lives and operates within this dangerous world as merely the help. Bob is a simple man and at face value seems harmless. He`s protective of Marv, loves dogs and even begins a romance with a local girl named Nadia (Noomi Rapace). But Tom Hardy plays him as a man who seems to have buried years of despair and danger deep down. Underneath his exterior lies a man no one wants to mess with.
The main issue I have with the film does not lie in the performances. All do amazing work. Hardy is on the brink of superstardom. This actor from England has a knack with accents that is second to no one. From a Batman villain, to a 1920’s gangster, to the next Mad Max film, he does some outstanding work. This is a young Brando if you ask me. The problem is that the film has too many plots going on. There’s the romance angle, Bob rescues a puppy, there`s a botched robbery at some point, altercations with Chechen thugs, etc…
The filmmakers have gone to great lengths to create an gritty and sinister atmosphere and they have succeeded. The film reminds me of something Sidney Lumet would have done at the peak of his career. I just wish the film had a more focused narrative. But after a few weeks of boredom it’s worth a look.
