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DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE ***
Dir: S. Craig Zahler (18, 159 mins)
An overlong but sporadically good bleak heist thriller from the director of the superb westerm Bone Tomahawk. This also has plenty of gut-churning violence, even if its story seems rather stretched. Dragged Across Concrete also boasts a lot of troubling white male racism and sexism, with meta levels added by the casting of Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn as corrupt cops suspended for excessive force by grizzled boss Don Johnson. Needing cash, they get wind of an opportunity to intercept a bank heist and seize the stolen money for themselves. Naturally, events do not go to plan, with bloody results. They cross paths with ruthless hardcase Lorentz Vogelmann (Thomas Kretschmann), getaway driver Henry Johns (Tory Kittles) and Kelly Summer (Jennifer Carpenter), a new mother going back to work for the first time on the day of the robbery. Zahler’s dialogue crackles amidst the unpleasantness, but the female characters are poorly served. Dragged Across Concrete is not for the impatient or fainthearted, but is a pointed look at toxic masculinity.
words Keiron Self
Opens Apr 19