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Dragged Across Concrete

Dragged Across Concrete

This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information

Thereā€™s a phrase on social media called ā€œmilkshake duckā€ or ā€œmilkshake duckingā€ thatā€™s inspired by a sort-of famous Tweet that originally referred to those moments when some cool new person, artist or creation you just became a fan of turns out to be ā€œproblematicā€ very soon after. At this point, it tends to mean the sense that it hasnā€™t happened yet but is probably going to ā€” ā€œSheā€™s funny! I hope sheā€™s not a milkshake duckā€ or ā€œI like this bandā€™s sound, but some of the lyrics feel like theyā€™re one or two albums away from milkshake ducking it, and itā€™s gonna bum me out.ā€

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Indie movie writer-director S. Craig Zahler, late of Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99 and the screenplay for the reboot of Puppet Master, is currently the number one with a bullet ā€milkshake duckā€ of the grindhouse movie circuit. An undeniably talented auteur filmmaker with all the right pre-Millennial film geek influences and genre bonafides ā€” at least when heā€™s also directing his own stuff since Puppet Master was terrible ā€” he tends to hit the nexus of near-pornographic ultraviolence, swaggering macho bravado, intelligently textured dialogue, and smart, deliberative pacing thatā€™s catnip to hip cinephiles. He makes Bill Lustig movies, but directs them like William Wellman movies.

Whatā€™s put an extra edge on his work is that he likes to traffic in subject matter, imagery, topics, and sometimes actors and collaborators that most present-day filmmakers tend to bend over backwards to clarify that theyā€™re not endorsing such as police violence, racism, extreme right-wing nationalism, demonization of minorities, and brutal misogyny. But Zahler seemingly isnā€™t in a hurry to reassure anyone about where he stands on anything.

His Western, his prison movie, his revisionist take on the Nazi black magic aspect of the Puppet Master franchise, and now his ā€œbad copā€ movie all dive headlong into the most (if youā€™ll pardon the obnoxious, tiresome phrasing) politically incorrect button-pushing regions of their subject matter with a boldness that can be exhilirating but also disquieting. Itā€™s like if a friend showed you some unspeakable image from the depths of the web on their phone and you found yourself nervously laughing. ā€Ha ha. Yeah thatā€™s … pretty nasty. Um … why do you have that?ā€

Itā€™s kind of a letdown to see Zahler seemingly sand off his own edges.

Those whoā€™ve already decided that Zahler must be a not-so-closeted reactionary (or at the very least a gifted troll unconcerned with playing the part to risible effect) certainly wonā€™t be dissuaded by the presence of Mel Gibson and returning Brawl in Cell Block 99 star Vince Vaughn as the leads of Dragged Across Concrete. Zahler provocatively casts those actors as a pair of grumpy, racist misfit cops who plan a heist while on a six-week unpaid suspension for the excessive beating of a suspect. They agree the beating was excessive, but also donā€™t think was a big deal. ā€œIā€™m not racist,ā€ Vaughn deapans to his exasperated captain and his partnerā€™s former partner. ā€œEvery Martin Luther King Day, I order a cup of dark roast.ā€

Parallel storylines follow Tory Kittles and Michael Jai White (refreshingly cast for his acting rather than his fighting skills) as drivers hired by the heavily-armed masked psychopaths pulling off the heist, who Gibson and Vaughn plan to rob in turn. Both leads have slow-burning subplots. Gibsonā€™s multiple sclerosis-afflicted wife worries that sheā€™s ā€œturning into a racistā€ because sheā€™s concerned about her daughter being bullied in their mostly black low-income neighborhood. We also follow Vaughnā€™s attempt to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend, which is complicated for similar reasons. Itā€™s a Zahler movie so it also runs almost three hours with threads taking their sweet time playing out before colliding in a brutal, nihilistically violent payoff.

Dragged Across Concrete can be viewed as a conscious move away from the genre thrills of Zahlerā€™s previous two films and into something more like a formal drama punctuated by moments of signature extreme violence and unnerving ā€œthis feels too realā€ nastiness. Itā€™s a solid crime film that makes a nice showcase for Zahlerā€™s florid dialogue and penchant for leisurely long takes and jarring bloodshed. But it also feels at times like limitations are setting in. Itā€™s probably the least engaging of his films, a reminder that even if expanding lurid exploitation-style cop movies to epic length is an interesting concept, thereā€™s a reason most of them get paired down to run as quickly as possible.

Thereā€™s been a lot of critical hand-wringing about whether Zahler is or isnā€™t the first filmmaker with a reactionary and/or right-of-center sociopolitical skew since John Milius to actually make good movies. Despite the unavoidably controversial presence of the equally repellant yet talented Mel Gibson ā€” who is about good here as heā€™s been in anything ā€” this is also the first time Iā€™ve felt like the director has pulled his punches. We are shown enough of the cops just being grouchy and beaten-down by life to get where theyā€™re meant to be coming from. When we see whatā€™s going on with Gibsonā€™s daughter, sheā€™s catching schoolyard bullying and not much else. The two wheelmen are extremely sympathetic and thoughtful, and the actual robbers might as well be Jason Vorheeses with machine guns.

For all the nastiness around everything, it sort of comes off like a cop out. If youā€™re going to ask us to wallow in this ā€œThere are no good guys, everyoneā€™s just some variation of a bastard!ā€ muck for three hours fine, but let them be bastards. Own up to that perspective and let it ride. For a movie pitched as the breakout for the most dangerous filmmaker on the indie scene, itā€™s kind of a letdown to see Zahler seemingly sand off his own edges and hand in something more like an extra long, very talky, much more handsome looking episode of Chicago P.D.


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Author
Image of Bob Chipman
Bob Chipman
Bob Chipman is a critic and author.