Review: Hardy and Gandolfini excellent in 'The Drop'

"The Drop" could have been an ordinary crime drama, but it's elevated by extraordinary performances.

Michael R. Roskam's film is notable for other reasons, too — it's the last film James Gandolfini completed before his death in June 2013. He's as good as ever as the former owner of a bar (he gets to trot out his Tony Soprano accent), but Tom Hardy is even better.

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Hardy plays Bob, a quiet bartender who works for his cousin, Marv (Gandolfini), at Cousin Marv's, a neighborhood joint in Brooklyn. Don't let the name of the place, or the relationship between the two men, throw you off. Marv doesn't treat Bob with any particular fondness, and the place isn't his anymore. Chechen mobsters took the place from him years ago, and Marv's bitterness hasn't even started to fade.

Marv's is a drop bar, where criminals dump money to exchange in relative safety (it seems clear that the cops know what's going on, and don't think it's worth their while to do anything about it).

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Bob finds a puppy, badly beaten, in a garbage can outside the home of Nadia (Noomi Rapace), and once she trusts him enough (she texts a picture of his driver's license to four friends before letting him in), she helps him raise the dog. A romance could be brewing, but Bob is hard to read. He seems to like her and doesn't really appear to be smart enough to hide his motives. He seems like a sweet, simple guy who likes the dog and the woman, nothing more.

Meanwhile, two thugs rob the bar. The Chechen crime boss (Michael Aronov) who now owns the place isn't happy, obviously, and expects to get his money back, no matter how Marv does it.

Then a strange man named Eric (Matthias Schoenaerts) shows up at Bob's and says he wants his dog back. He's clearly dangerous and has long bragged about killing a guy in the neighborhood who disappeared years ago. He has no problem threatening the sweet-tempered Bob. But Bob, as we learn over the course of the film, is no pushover.

The story contains a few twists, none of which is particularly shocking. Nothing is really what it seems, but when is that not the case in a movie like this? Dennis Lehane based his script on his short story "Animal Rescue." It's the first time he has adapted his own work, though others have had good luck with his writing (he wrote the novels "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby Gone," among others); he and Roskam seem content to let the actors carry the day.

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In this case, that's not a bad idea. In some respects it's too bad that Gandolfini's last film finds him as a thug, especially after he was so good in last year's "Enough Said," playing against type as a big, sweet bear of a man. But he's so good we should be happy to have one last performance, period. His Marv is dumber — and therefore more dangerous — than Tony Soprano. He's certainly convincing, though not subtle (he's not asked to be).

Hardy is tremendous. Even early on, as Bob just trudges about his life, attending daily Mass but never going to communion, you wonder whether there isn't something going on beyond what we're seeing. It's a measured performance, with Hardy revealing little bits of Bob's personality with a small gesture or line of dialogue. That's what makes the evolution of the character, and the enjoyment of watching Hardy, so satisfying. And it's what makes "The Drop" a movie that's worth your while.

Review: 'The Drop,' 3.5 stars

Director: Michael R. Roskam.

Cast: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace.

Rating: R for some strong violence and pervasive language.

AZCENTRAL

The Drop (2014) | Phoenix Arizona Movie Theater Showtimes Reviews

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