The Drop (2014)

Directed by: Michael R. Roskam
Country: USA

Movie Review: With his new crime-thriller “The Drop”, best screenplay in San Sebastián Film Festival, Belgian filmmaker Michael R.Roskam moves his lens to Brooklyn, USA, after attain considerable success in his country with the plodding drama “Bullhead”, released three years ago. “The Drop” was based on the short story “Animal Rescue” by Dennis Lehane (“Mystic River”, Gone Baby Gone”), who extended it for this feature and then adapted the script into a novel. Michael Hardy plays Bob Saginowski, a bartender who works for his cousin Marv (James Gandolfini). Their life will become complicated when the bar, constantly used for ‘dropping’ money by the local gangsters, is robbed by two men in a mask. While trying to find the culprits, Bob finds a wound baby pit bull in a trash can, belonging to Nadia (Naomi Rapace). They decide to save the puppy that once belonged to Nadia’s former boyfriend, Eric (Matthias Schoenaerts), a pushy and dangerous thug who becomes a severe threat to Bob, in the moment he starts a relationship with Nadia. Slow burning and never ostensive, “The Drop” remains for too long in blah-blah-blah, relegating the action scenes to a secondary plan. Only in its final part, the violence assumes its role, in addition to a more effective tension and dark humor. I had the sensation that Roskam and Lehane weren’t so successful in turning the short story into a feature, which most of the time feels familiar and foreseeable. The general good performances provide an acceptable viewing, but don’t expect so much creativity or excitement.