Dragged Across Concrete (2019)

Two cops (Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn) are suspended from the force when a video showing them using excessive force on a Hispanic drug dealer (Noel G) while arresting him is released. At the same time, a young black man (Tory Kittles) is released from prison to find his mother (Vanessa Bell Calloway) has turned hooker to support his younger wheelchair bound brother (Myles Truitt). The two storylines will merge in a bloody clash of violence. Written and directed by S. Craig Zahler (BONE TOMAHAWK), a two and a half hour cop movie starring Gibson and Vaughn was the last thing I would be interested in but someone whose opinion I trust recommended it highly and I'm glad I listened. It's a riveting and dark noir-ish crime thriller that knows the movie is in the details so Zahler takes his time setting up his characters so we know them. Even a minor character like the new mother (Jennifer Carpenter) with anxieties about leaving her infant to return to work gets her moment when most directors would probably eliminate the character all together because she slowed down the action but Zahler knows that her character's fate brings some much needed humanity to the film. Carpenter's character is one of the film's few innocents as almost everybody else is crooked from the cops to the drug dealers whose bank heist leads to a bloody showdown. This is no cop buddies movie so don't expect LETHAL WEAPON. There are no car chases, no explosions but the film is very violent including a graphic (and I do mean graphic) disembowelment. With Don Johnson, Udo Keir, Michael Jai White, Laurie Holden and Thomas Kretschmann.