Mel Gibson might not be everyone’s favorite actor following the fall from grace that’s seen him become one of the VOD circuit’s most prolific performers, but the two-time Academy Award winner remains capable of starring in the odd gem every now and again, with Dragged Across Concrete perhaps the pick of the litter.
Netflix subscribers would seem to be in agreement anyway, seeing as writer and director S. Craig Zahler’s uncompromisingly brutal slow-burning crime thriller has upended expectations to become the number one most-watched movie among at-home audiences in the United States, per FlixPatrol.
As you’d expect from the mind behind Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Bone Tomahawk, Dragged Across Concrete doesn’t shy away from grisly violence and unrelenting bleakness, but there’s nonetheless a very good film lurking underneath, something respective Rotten Tomatoes scores of 76 and 70 percent from critics and audience solidifies.
Not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for the impatient at a hefty 159 minutes, Gibson and Vince Vaughn star as a pair of old school cops who get suspended for being captured on camera subduing a suspect with excessive force. From there, they off-duty duo opt to try their hand at playing on the other side of the law, and it would be an understatement to say that things only get increasingly gnarly from there.
Dragged Across Concrete topping the Netflix charts wasn’t something we saw coming, but if you can stick out, it’s a rewarding experience that exposes its seedy underbelly from the very first frame.
