Dragged Across Concrete Blu-Ray Review
Story
Two police detectives (Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn) find themselves suspended after a video of their strong-arm tactics is leaked to the media. In another part of town, a felon (Tory Kittles) is released from prison and discovers that his family is about to be evicted. With little money and no options, all three men descend into the criminal underworld, where danger awaits them in the shadows.
Review
Dragged Across Concrete is the third directive effort from S. Craig Zahler and it feels very much like his last film, Brawl in Cell Block 99. I'm going to save you some time and just say that if you were a fan of Brawl in Cell Block 99 then definitely pick this up, no questions asked. For those of you may not be familiar with Zahler, you can expect a slow pace compared to other films in the genre, and a lot of violence. I'm talking guts galore type of violence.
Dragged Across Concrete does take its time to get going and honestly it never really gets going. I'm not saying that in a negative way, it is just a very slow paced movie and in some ways it makes the situations feel more realistic. Like this his how long they would take to play out in real life. I kinda liked that compared to other crime thrillers and honestly the cinematography was great, every shot was well constructed and added to the vibe of the film.
Looking at the cover you can see that it is quite the cast but for me the standout is easily Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson to me has been hit or miss the last few years. However here, he really delivered the goods. He is a detective who quite frankly should have retired more than a few years ago and is really only holding on for a pay check. I was very impressed by Gibson and his performance alone is worth the purchase of this film.
Not to be out shined, Vince Vaughn also gave a great performance. His character was definitely the good cop when compared to Gibson's character. Vince Vaughn has really become one of my favorite actors to watch work in these smaller low budget crime thrillers. His partnership with Gibson carries the majority of the film and thankfully both of them felt like real life counterparts on screen.
Dragged Across Concrete is a violent and dark crime thriller that is slower than others but is so well constructed and well written that you don't even mind the lengthy run time. If you're looking for a grounded and gritty movie to watch, this one is for you.
Video
Dragged Across Concrete is presented in 1080p in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Keeping with the theme of the movie, the visual aspect itself is dark and sharp. Although I would like to see a 4K transfer at some point, I can see why the decided to go with a regular HD release. The film doesn't really require much from an Ultra High Definition release. I would have liked for there to be more lighting in certain scenes but then again that is more of a creative decision than an actual issue with the blu-ray itself. There are no problems as far as video quality goes so it gets a thumbs up from me.
Audio
This film is very dialogue driven film and for that reason it doesn't really require much from your sound system. All the dialogue was very clear and I had no issues hearing any conversations. Towards the end of the film there is more consistent gunfire and it all sounded just fine to me. This is definitely one that you can pick up without having to worry about having a top tier sound system to enjoy.
EXTRAS
· “Elements of a Crime” 3-Part Documentary
· “Moral Conflict: Creating Cinema that Challenges” Featurette
LANGUAGE
- English and Spanish
SUBTITLES
- English, English SDH, and Spanish
FINAL THOUGHTS
Dragged Across Concrete is another solid film from director-write S. Craig Zahler and definitely worth adding your collection if you're a fan of the director's previous films or even just a fan of good crime thrillers.
Dragged Across Concrete is available on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray™ and Digital) DVD, and Digital now from Lionsgate.
0 comments:
Post a Comment