In the city of Bulwark, recent parolee Henry returns home, interrupting his mother with a customer. After chastising her for turning to prostitution, Henry reunites with his younger brother Ethan. Three weeks later, police detectives Brett Ridgeman and Anthony Lurasetti raid the home of Vasquez, a known drug dealer. Ridgeman is unnecessarily rough with the suspect, and coerces Vasquez's girlfriend into revealing a duffel bag of money and narcotics. The bust is a success, but the detectives are called before their superior, Chief Lt. Calvert. Explaining that a video of Ridgeman subduing Vasquez has been released to the media, Calvert is forced to suspend both detectives for six weeks without pay. Ridgeman's daughter Sara is continually harassed, and his wife Melanie, a former cop with multiple sclerosis, pleads with him to move them to a safer neighborhood. Lurasetti is similarly desperate for money, with plans to propose to his girlfriend Denise. On a tip from Friedrich, a wealthy businessman with criminal connections, Ridgeman recruits Lurasetti to help him surveil and rob the mysterious Lorentz Vogelmann. Having bought an engagement ring, Lurasetti stalls in proposing to Denise, unsure if he can continue with Ridgeman's plan. Henry and his childhood friend Biscuit are hired by Vogelmann, whose masked associates – one wearing black gloves, one with grey – have committed a series of robberies to buy a customized bulletproof van with airless tires. Bank employee Kelly Summer struggles to leave her newborn son, but returns to work for the first time after her maternity leave. Vogelmann, Black Gloves, and Grey Gloves take the bank hostage, with Biscuit and Henry disguised as security guards in the van. Using methodical, tape-recorded instructions, Vogelmann demands the bank's supply of gold bullion. Kelly, fearing for her life, tries to prevent a colleague from notifying the police, and is executed. Tailing the van, Ridgeman and Lurasetti realize Vogelmann is robbing the bank. The thieves escape with the bullion and a hostage, Cheryl, having castrated the bank manager. Unsettled by Vogelmann and his henchmen's brutality, Biscuit and Henry are forced to surrender their weapons. Realizing they may be killed, Henry distracts Biscuit with memories of their childhood, and chooses not to reveal they are being followed by the detectives. Lurasetti learns five people were killed in the robbery and the thieves have taken a hostage. He berates Ridgeman for not intervening sooner or notifying the authorities, but Ridgeman asserts that law enforcement would be too late, and only the two of them can deal with the thieves. Lurasetti leaves Denise a voicemail, leading her to the engagement ring. Arriving at a garage in the countryside, Biscuit leaps out of the van and is shot, as Henry wounds Grey Gloves with a hidden gun. Mortally wounded, Biscuit swallows the van's key; imploring Henry to take care of his mother, he is shot dead. Ridgeman and Lurasetti arrive, donning body armor and ballistic masks. Cheryl is sent to pull Biscuit's body into the van, while Lusaretti, an Army marksman, is unable to disable the van with his sniper rifle. Black Gloves cuts the key out of Biscuit's stomach, but Ridgeman rams the van, knocking it over. Threatened by Vogelmann, the half-naked Cheryl crawls to the detectives and shoots Lurasetti, and is shot dead by Ridgeman, who kills Black Gloves as he exits the van. Lurasetti listens to a voicemail from Denise declining his proposal, and dies. Ridgeman fills the van with tear gas, and kills Gray Gloves as he surrenders. He is ambushed by Henry, who has recorded the entire incident on his cellphone, and kills Vogelmann. Disarming Henry, Ridgeman proposes they split the score, and together they load the bodies and the bullion in the getaway car. Towing Lurasetti's car from the scene, Henry finds another hidden gun. Ridgeman holds Henry at gunpoint, demanding he erase the cellphone video, and Henry shoots him. After promising the dying Ridgeman that his family will be taken care of, Henry buries all the bodies. Eleven months later, Henry lives in a lavish mansion with his mother and brother. He sends Melanie and Sara a package, addressed to them from Ridgeman, containing a share of the gold bullion.
Cast
Production
On February 1, 2017, S. Craig Zahler was signed to direct Dragged Across Concrete from a screenplay he had written. A film about police brutality, it would star Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn, who had previously worked together in the 2016 filmHacksaw Ridge. Keith Kjarval of Unified Pictures produced the film along with Zahler and Dallas Sonnier of Cinestate, Assemble Media's Jack Heller, and Sefton Fincham of Look to the Sky Films, with Kjarval's Unified Film Fund financing. In May 2017, Lionsgate acquired the US distribution rights to the film, and would release it through its subsidiary, Summit Entertainment. Principal photography on the film began on July 17, 2017 in Vancouver.
Dragged Across Concrete was released on digital download, DVD and Blu-ray disc in the United States under Lionsgate Films on April 30, 2019 including two special features, a short featurette titled Moral Conflict: Creating Cinema That Challenges and a forty-minute 3-part featurette, Elements of a Crime. Studio Canal released it in the U.K. on August 19, 2019 across all three formats.
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, Dragged Across Concrete holds an approval rating of 75% based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 6.91/10. The website's consensus reads, "As grim and grinding as its title, Dragged Across Concrete opts for slow-burning drama instead of high-speed thrills -- and has just the right cast to make it work." On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 60 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
