'The Drop' Delivers The Goods

By Joel Wicklund in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 12, 2014 3:15PM

James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy in The Drop
© 2014 FOX AND ITS RELATED ENTITIES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

A smart suspense film in working class clothing, The Drop proves that a slow reveal can be more effective than the big, surprise twist so many movies try to engineer. There is a twist in this tale of small-time criminals and a Brooklyn dive bar, but it isn’t the movie’s reason for being. Instead, the plot’s key turning point is really there to finish coloring in a complex and compelling central character.

He is Bob the bartender, played by Tom Hardy early on as a kind of contemporary Terry Malloy—Marlon Brando's role in On the Waterfront. Bob is aware of the criminal aspects of his workplace, managed by its namesake, Cousin Marv (James Gandolfini), but owned by Chechen gangsters. But like Terry Malloy, Bob seems like a bit of an innocent—not dumb, but certainly not educated—and mainly concerned with keeping out of the fray.

Cousin Marv’s bar is one of several secret drop points for illegal money changing hands between the gangsters. But it's also a basic, blue collar American bar, and the film captures that environment perfectly. Despite the omnipresence of Average Joe bars, movies so often get them wrong; either making them appear too upscale or so impoverished they look about to be condemned. But Cousin Marv's, like the firmly middle class dwellings in the film, seems like the real deal: a place with nothing distinctive to separate it from the pack, but welcoming enough to draw loyal regulars. As one patron says defiantly, "That’s my bar. Don’t fuck with my bar."

But someone does fuck with Cousin Marv's bar. An armed robbery puts Marv and Bob at the mercy of their criminal bosses, who want the stolen money back quickly. Another danger looms with the arrival of the violent and unstable Eric Deeds (Matthias Schoenaerts), who strangely enters Bob's life after he and Deeds' ex-girlfriend Nadia (Noomi Rapace) rescue a beaten pit bull puppy abandoned in a trashcan.

The Drop slowly and skillfully transitions from vivid inner city drama to suspense mode, without ever sacrificing authenticity. It would be easy to believe the film was made by a native New Yorker, but instead it's the first English language feature from Belgian director Michaël Roskam, whose 2011 feature Bullhead won much acclaim and also garnered attention for its star, Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone).

However there is an American voice here: screenwriter Dennis Lehane, who adapted his own short story, "Animal Rescue" (since expanded into a novel). Lehane's books have been turned into some notable films, including Mystic River; Gone, Baby, Gone; and Shutter Island. This is his first feature film as a screenwriter, though he honed that craft on a few episodes of The Wire and Boardwalk Empire. Lehane's dialogue in The Drop shows a novelist's care for language without ever losing believability as real conversation.

Roskam isn't the only non-American who does top-notch work here to convey Lehane's world. Schoenaerts, with a flawless American accent, brings a live wire intensity to the role of Deeds. Rapace (star of the original Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy) effectively portrays both the defensiveness and compassion of a woman trying to steer clear of the brutality of men. But ultimately the movie hinges on Hardy and he delivers. Though the British actor's Yankee voice is more mannered than Schoenaerts' accent, he’s utterly convincing in showing Bob as both an underachieving appeaser and a quiet storm, not to be underestimated.

Gandolfini also impresses in his second posthumous film appearance. Though this underworld role is much less of a stretch than his romantic lead in the terrific Enough Said, he makes Marv's vulnerability and desperation palpable. The part may be tangentially in the same ballpark, but this is a fully realized character, not a Tony Soprano retread.

If there's a breakout performance here, it may be a mid-career one. John Ortiz has more than two decades of screen credits behind him and he's been reliably good all those years. But as a devoted Catholic detective out to uncover the secrets of Cousin Marv's place, Ortiz is a wonderful presence, masking intimidation in false chumminess.

The central metaphor of The Drop relates to that puppy (pit bull owners will love the statement), but while it's obvious, the movie isn't concerned with slamming home symbolism. Like that twist mentioned earlier, the movie as a whole can't be reduced to one narrative gimmick or overarching theme. This is full-bodied storytelling that never tries to bowl you over, but smoothly draws you in and leaves you fully satisfied.

The Drop. Directed by Michaël Roskam, screenplay by Dennis Lehane, based on Lehane's short story "Animal Rescue," 106 minutes, Rated R. Starring Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace and Matthias Schoenaerts. Now playing in theaters nationwide.