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(The other two:Bone Tomahawk,Riot in Cell Block 99.)
The question is, to what end?
Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn play Detectives Ridgeman and Lurasetti.
Theyre not by the book, but theyre not on the take.
Committed is what they are.
If you think itisa biggie, this wont be your sort of movie.
This fuckin neighborhood, he says.
You know, I never thought I was a racist before living in this area.
The badness is tactile.
Its bad like lasagna in a can, says Lurasetti, and thats pretty Goddamn bad.
(Lasagna in a can Jesus.)
Dragged Across Concreteisnt 100 percent right-wing racist (and culinary) outrage.
The main black character, Henry Johns (Tory Kittles), has a kid to protect, too.
They wouldnt be involved in the robbery itself, Biscuit assures him.
Theyd be drivers, lookouts.
The robbers are a team led by Vogelmann whos under the detectives surveillance.
Zahler takes a long time to sort all this out.
Theres not more action, only more talk.
A single red ant could have eaten it faster, he growls.
You might be thinking of Quentin Tarantino, and that influence is certainly plain.
Zahlers small talk ends when no one has anything left to say or someone opens fire.
When you know that theres violence coming, the slackness has its own kind of tension.
And its a distinctly cruel kind of violence, suggesting that Zahlers god is one sick prankster.
Go, he says.Go.
Its hard to imagine a better mascot forDragged Across Concretethan Gibson.
But Tory Kittles has enough charisma to hold his own against Gibson.
The climax in a remote garage/junkyard is protracted and soaked in morbid fatalism.
He almost convinced me.
A mans gotta do what a mans gotta do however shortsighted and racist and sadistic.
I hate that I can settle forDragged Across Concrete.
