Theater Whore: The Drop

The Drop 9/10

Cam and I got to check out The Drop over at the Arclight which is becoming one of two theaters that I will go to next to The Sundance. I had wanted to see this movie since I recently read the book and loved it. It doesn't hurt that the cast is great. The story has a very basic storyline that you have probably seen before but the cast makes this movie work like crazy. Even the stuff that was left out of the movie was the stuff that wasn't necessary to understand everyone's motivation. Tom Hardy stars as Bob Saginowski. He seems to be a very nice guy that has a plain life working as a bartender at his cousins bar.

James Gandolfini is Cousin Marv who owns the bar. Well, he used to. Now it is what's called a drop. When people place bets different places hold the money for the night. Marv and Bob used to be in a gang until these guys moved on in and were far tougher than they were. Marv seems jealous of Bob since the gang leader, Chovka plated by Michael Aronov, doesn't appear to respect Marv. Shit gets hairy when two guys rob the bar and Bob tells Detective Torres played by John Ortiz about a watch on one of the guys arms. They later get a bag with the stolen money and the arm in it.

While walking home Bob finds a puppy in the trash that is whimpering. He gets it out of the trash and a lady named Nadia played by Noomi Rapace is afraid of Bob but after seeing how inept he is at taking care of it she helps him clean and take care of the dog. Bob is stressing about the dog because he knows how much of a responsibility it is. Nadia has a past that Bob doesn't care to know about since he says that everyone has a past.

Enter Eric Deeds played by Matthias Schoenaerts. This dude as soon as he comes on screen is a scumbag. All he says is “That's a nice dog...” and Bob picks his dog up and cradles it from him. Turns out Deeds is Nadia's old boyfriend, crazy as fuck, and is the one that beat the dog. Now he wants the dog back from Bob and will do everything from blackmail, assault, and breaking and entering to do it. There is nothing good about this guy.

Cam liked this movie a lot and so did I. The pacing of it was great. It was like hearing about a storm that was coming and when it does it comes and destroys everything in its path. This is not a film that has sex and explosions. Cam hit it right on the head when she said it reminded her of History of Violence. It has that same tone. When violence happens it is quick and hard. The performances felt real. When someone was being scary it felt scary, when someone was nervous I felt nervous, when someone got shot I sharted. Everyone needs to see this movie.

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