Read Positive User Reviews for Dragged Across Concrete

10

Topdogg99May 27, 2019

Great long and stretched movie, potrays realistic and brutal situations, funny and great performances, itter masterpiece, the director is a god

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

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8

Naji1May 31, 2019

Wonderfully terrible. The entire time I was wondering if this was a happy accident or the result of great skill. Everything from the poor character development to the slow, rabbit hole like plot and the uncharacteristically seemingly poorWonderfully terrible. The entire time I was wondering if this was a happy accident or the result of great skill. Everything from the poor character development to the slow, rabbit hole like plot and the uncharacteristically seemingly poor acting was the best I've seen perhaps since The Room. I only hope this was intentional.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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7

Jes1310May 18, 2020

Zahlers most ambitious movie to date and it almost delivers. The story is very simple but also highly effective. The pace is almost nonexistent, and most of the time its fine with the slow pacing. Its very brutal and graphic in its violence.Zahlers most ambitious movie to date and it almost delivers. The story is very simple but also highly effective. The pace is almost nonexistent, and most of the time its fine with the slow pacing. Its very brutal and graphic in its violence. To me this is better than cell block but not as good as Bone Tomahawk.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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10

SkillJamJul 2, 2019

This movie is fantastic. Everyone who is complaining about length and slow tempo is probably just shallow teen kid who needs superb action like fast and furious. Well no, this movie is for adult viewer and its tempo pays of. Great acting,This movie is fantastic. Everyone who is complaining about length and slow tempo is probably just shallow teen kid who needs superb action like fast and furious. Well no, this movie is for adult viewer and its tempo pays of. Great acting, great story, brilliant atmosphere.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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8

Bertaut1May 8, 2019

Ugly, crude, morally repugnant, very enjoyable

Dragged Across Concrete is the third film from writer/director S. Craig Zahler, after the superb horror-western Bone Tomahawk (2015) and the fatalistic but excellent prison drama Brawl in CellUgly, crude, morally repugnant, very enjoyable

Dragged Across Concrete is the third film from writer/director S. Craig Zahler, after the superb horror-western Bone Tomahawk (2015) and the fatalistic but excellent prison drama Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017). Synthesising disparate genres, and featuring sudden and often extreme violence, both are methodically paced and emotionally dark. In Dragged, the gore has been toned down (although not the violence), the nihilistic worldview is made more apparent, the genre mashup more complex, and the pace more languorous. It's also morally repugnant, ugly and stoical, exploitative and demoralising. And immensely enjoyable.

Set in the fictional city of Bulwark, the film follows three stories. In one, Henry Johns (Tory Kittles) returns home from prison to find his mother (Vanessa Bell Calloway) turning tricks in her bedroom, whilst his younger brother (Myles Truitt) is kept quiet with videogames. In the second, Det. Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Det. Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughan) are suspended without pay after Ridgeman is filmed standing on the head of a Latino drug dealer during an arrest. Needing money to move his family out of the bad part of town in which they live, Ridgeman decides he's done playing by the rules. The third sees Kelly Summer (Jennifer Carpenter) reluctantly returning to work after maternity leave, despite suffering from severe separation anxiety.

Narratively, although Dragged is easily Zahler's most densely plotted film, much like his previous work, it's predicated on character rather than story, spending a lot of time on conversations that do little to advance the plot, but add layers of character information (think the "royale with cheese" scene from Pulp Fiction). One subplot in particular benefits from this technique, so that when it erupts in sickening violence, the emotional impact is all the stronger; think of the character of Breedan (Dennis Haysbert) in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), a subplot that hits as emotionally hard as it does because Mann spends so much time introducing us to the character.

Given what Zahler's films say about masculinity and violence, it's no surprise that he is seen as a quintessentially right-wing filmmaker in a very left-leaning Hollywood - although he claims he's not a Trump supporter, the Daily Beast still referred to him as "the Hollywood filmmaker making movies for the MAGA crowd", which is not only reductionist, it's not even accurate, as there is nothing in his films to suggest he subscribes to Trump's hateful and divisive rhetoric.

That said, if he isn't engaging in socio-political commentary here, then he is baiting outrage culture. Who does he cast as the two racist cops who complain about political correctness and trial by social media, and who use (gun) violence to try to set their world to rights? Noted Hollywood conservatives Mel Gibson (he of the 2010 "raped by a pack of n-----s" comment), and Vince Vaughan, who rather amusingly believes the way to tackle gun violence in the US is to introduce more guns. One can see Zahler getting considerable satisfaction from watching SJWs losing their minds trying to parse the metatextuality.

However, despite his claims that the film is apolitical, it's hard to deny that some of the dialogue has a political flavour. So, for example, the cops' boss, Lt. Calvert (Don Johnson, still effortlessly cool), states that "being branded a racist in today's public forum is like being accused of being a communist in the 50s [...] The entertainment industry, formerly known as the news, needs villains," a comment which will call to mind Trump's refrain of "fake news". Another example is when Ridgeman's wife (Laurie Holden) says, "I never thought I was a racist before living in this area." That's a hell of a loaded statement in a film that's apparently not interested in race relations. Moving away from racial issues, Ridgeman laments to Calvert, "yesterday, after we stop a massive amount of drugs from getting into the school system, we get suspended because we didn't do it politely", and it's hard not to hear Zahler behind such a sentiment; someone who believes (maybe correctly) that PC culture has gotten to a point of absurdity.

The line between critical commentary and ideological endorsement is generally razor thin, and it's a line that Zahler walks throughout, in the first film he's made that's more likely to alienate audiences because of its ideology than its violence. Certainly more to the right than the vast majority of Hollywood, Zahler may be positioning himself as a conservative ideologue against cookie-cutter Hollywood political correctness. You may see it as shining a light on racial intolerance in law enforcement. Or as commenting on how women are expected to be mothers and full-time workers. Or as appallingly racist itself. Or as full of misogyny. And this ambiguity, more than anything else, speaks to its quality as a provocative work of art.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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7

bataguilaJul 19, 2019

Buenísima. Acción típica de policías y ladrones, con muertes muy buenas y sangrientas. La historia es redonda. El problema de la peli es que dura mucho, tiene escenas de más (1ra media hora), pero es para explicar la motivación de losBuenísima. Acción típica de policías y ladrones, con muertes muy buenas y sangrientas. La historia es redonda. El problema de la peli es que dura mucho, tiene escenas de más (1ra media hora), pero es para explicar la motivación de los personajes. Director nuevo, apenas su 3ra peli, (Excelente:Brawl in Cell Block 99)… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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9

JumpCut_OnlineApr 9, 2019

After the bones are broken and the scores are settled, Dragged Across Concrete at the height of its power is an experience in every sense of the word. Zahler has already proven to be an essential voice in the modern wave of exploitationAfter the bones are broken and the scores are settled, Dragged Across Concrete at the height of its power is an experience in every sense of the word. Zahler has already proven to be an essential voice in the modern wave of exploitation cinema. His genre-hopping projects and style, despite their flaws, are nonetheless passionate while scarring. While Concrete isn’t quite as lean as it’s predecessor, the ambitious scale of crime epic is another exciting chapter to witness.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

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7

JoeCoolMar 27, 2019

It's not bad, a bit slow, a bit heavy, ending a bit off. I've seen a lot worse recently, though I've seen considerably better too. Okay, nothing more. Wish I could 6 and half it, because that's what it is, almost a 7.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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8

Josephgamers65Apr 21, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Dragged Across Concrete Is a better movie on rewatch first I did not like all the kills they did I still don't the one major thing I still absolutely hate they killed off Mel Gibson character and Anthony character also Henry is still a good character he is in the very beginning but than Mel Gibson is introduced so we are cared for Brett and Anthony so i was really annoyed when Henry killed Brett but it is reasonable I do like how slow it is So on rewatch this movie is better But not so much last time I gave this movie An d- Now I give it An B-… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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9

VicFerrariJul 12, 2021

Bleak Neo Noir featuring rich dimensional characters on a collision course with fate. As with Zahler's other films there is violence which hits hard and brutal, played for impact not entertainment value (this is no MI/FF bullsh*t), but theBleak Neo Noir featuring rich dimensional characters on a collision course with fate. As with Zahler's other films there is violence which hits hard and brutal, played for impact not entertainment value (this is no MI/FF bullsh*t), but the film really sings in the dialogue. It's a long film that doesn't drag at all, taking its time building its threads before weaving them together. Diverse and refreshingly free of hackneyed identity politics, more like this please Hollywood.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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9

DanielGrimes94Sep 5, 2023

Definitely not for everybody, nowadays people think they need edgy scripts, remarkable visuals or just agitated acting to make a solid movie, Craig Zeigler manages to create a palpable story with real characters and a very unsettling diveDefinitely not for everybody, nowadays people think they need edgy scripts, remarkable visuals or just agitated acting to make a solid movie, Craig Zeigler manages to create a palpable story with real characters and a very unsettling dive into the criminal world without needing the magic of Hollywood, full of grey characters with an "understandable " crave for a better life putin values on the door , and others right down be the representation of satan , in a very slow but rewarding thriller , not for the fainted heart..… Expand