Blu-ray Review: “Dragged Across Concrete” Is A Crime Story That Never Ends

Once two overzealous cops get suspended from the force, they must delve into the criminal underworld to get their proper compensation.

I’m going to blatantly admit that the best part of the movie is the soundtrack and I actually want to go out and buy it right now. But if you want to know about the actual film, it’s about two cops named Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn) who get suspended for not following proper protocol in an arrest. Basically, they threw a guy down, handcuffed him by the feet to the rail, held their guns to his head, stomped on his head then went inside the apartment and poured water all over his girlfriend who happen to be in just her underwear, demanding she tells them where the hidden cash was, all caught on camera.

Suspended for 6 weeks with no pay, they realize their career gives them no means to attain the lifestyle they feel they deserve. Brett’s wife has MS and has difficulty getting around, they live in a predominantly black neighborhood and they don’t like where their daughter is constantly getting harassed by the black boys on her way home from school. Brett decides to envelop himself in someone else’s petty robbery in order to steal the cash in the end. He invites Anthony to join him which turns out to be a big mistake.

Henry Johns (Tory Kittles) gets out of jail and comes home to find his mother prostituting to pay the bills while his wheelchair-bound brother is right in the next room. He decides that he is going to get them out of this situation and in order to do that, he needs to get his hands on a large amount of money. He and his buddy Biscuit (Michael Jai White) insert themselves in a robbery as the drivers. Brett has gotten a tip from an old friend about what’s going down so he does a stakeout to get the information he needs. Once the robbery is in action, Brett and Anthony watch the van pull up in front of a bank. Biscuit and Henry are in the front seat waiting.

This film has many dragged out scenes that I feel are totally unnecessary to the story. In fact, they could have been totally deleted and I would not have missed them. There is a character named Kelly Summer (Jennifer Carpenter) who works in the bank and becomes a hostage but before we see her get on the bus and go to work like everyone else, we have to be taken through what seems to be a painful 15 minutes of her standing at the bus stop in agony not wanting to get on the bus, then going home and begging her husband to open the door and him finally telling her he will not let her in. Then her pleading to see her baby and promising to go to work if he just lets her see her child. Finally, when this scene is done, she ends up at work and then we get another long scene of the boss and co-workers welcoming her back from maternity leave. The action finally begins when masked men come in and demand to know where the money is, they start shooting with no mercy and people end up dead. They snatch Kelly, throw her into the van with the money, then Brett and Anthony follow them to a deserted place where a shootout between them begins. Let’s me wrap this up by saying after 159 minutes, one person gets away in the end.

Typical drug dealing, a bad black man who has just gotten out of jail, killing, robbing, the “N” word used unnecessarily, white people feeling entitled to a better life narrative that has been done way too many times. No need to run out to see this one.

Available on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack (plus DVD & Digital), DVD, and Digital April 30th