Seems like Mel isn't one to shy away from stereotypes, either racial or his own.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mel-gibsons-new-police-brutality-movie-is-a-vile-racist-right-wing-fantasy

Quote:

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Making its world premiere in Venice, Dragged Across Concrete's premise is as follows: a pair of detectives, Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn) are caught on tape applying excessive force to a Hispanic prisoner in handcuffs, in the form of Ridgeman grinding his boot into the man's neck until it emits a cracking sound. (During the bust, Ridgeman and Lurasetti also mock a scared, naked Latina suspect, claiming they can't understand what she's saying due to her accent. Both scenes are played for laughs.) With the tape destined to go viral, Ridgeman and Lurasetti are suspended for six weeks without pay, though the chief of police (Don Johnson) is sympathetic to their plight, delivering a rambling sermon about how being branded a "racist" today is akin to getting labeled a "communist" in the 1950sor, to quote the president, this is a WITCH HUNT! and these two violent cops are the real victims.


"Zahler's latest is a cold-blooded saga that revels in the violence it inflicts on women and minorities, in particular."
Though a six-week suspension seems like a mild punishment, especially considering this is the third time Ridgeman's been busted for using excessive force, he is in desperate need of cash. You see, his wife Melanie (Laurie Holden) has MS and his daughter is bullied by black kids on her four-block trek to school. Worried that those same black kids will rape their daughter once she matures, they vow to move to a better neighborhood (presumably one with less black people). "I never thought I was a racist until living in this area," Melanie says, her husband nodding in agreement. So Ridgeman cooks up a plan to rob an out-of-town crook, and ropes in Lurasetti with a Forgotten Man spiel: "I don't politick and I don't change with the times," he explains, lamenting how that matters more in today's world than "good, honest work."
Things don't go as planned, of course.
Dragged Across Concrete is written and directed by S. Craig Zahler, whose previous film, Brawl in Cell Block 99, also bowed in Venice. Unlike Brawl, a slick work of poetic brutality about a hard-on-his-luck pugilist (Vaughn) who's forced to smash in skulls to save his pregnant wife, Zahler's latest is a cold-blooded saga that revels in the violence it inflicts on women and minorities, in particular. Its two most sadistic scenes consist of a newly-minted mom whose fingers and face are shredded off with a machine gun, and a black man (Michael Jai White's Biscuit) who is graphically disemboweled in order to retrieve a swallowed key. After removing his heart and intestines, a white henchman warns another not to puncture his liver because "it stinks black guys especially."

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Currently showing 8.3/10, and with Vaughn and Gibson it has to be well-acted and entertaining.

Just finished this. It's pretty bleak. Some of the racial language seems a little purposely written like it's trying to make a point, but not sure what that point is. The beginning part doesn't come across as particularly insightful, but rather hamfisted.

That said, if you're looking for a crime/action movie that doesn't chicken out when depicting violence, and doesn't try to coddle you, you might enjoy it. For example, people dying of gunshot wounds to the chest burble and gurgle just like described in books, but like I've never seen in a movie.

I'm glad I watched it.

It's currently on HBO streaming.

Really enjoyed it. Learned of it after watching Brawl in Cell Block 99.

Having "Dragged" in the title's spot-on. At least 40 minutes of this 160-minute movie could've been cut. Some of the characters, namely Kelly Summer, were pointless. Decent overall, but this flick took way too long to get anywhere. Just one man's opinion.

AustinAg2012 said:

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Having "Dragged" in the title's spot-on. At least 40 minutes of this 160-minute movie could've been cut. Some of the characters, namely Kelly Summer, were pointless. Decent overall, but this flick took way too long to get anywhere. Just one man's opinion.

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Slow start and buildup seems to be a common theme with movies directors by Zahler. The payoff is worth it to me.

This guy's definitely on my radar going forward for his future films.

Watching this now. It's not bad, but some of the dialogue is so contrived it's distracting.

I enjoyed it, I'm a big Mel Gibson fan though. The story was much better than Brawl in Cellblock 99, both by the same director.

There were some really solid parts. The gritty feel was good, it was well shot, and at times there was some solid acting. But, a lot of the dialogue was straight out of a comic book. Also, it was pretty amazing at how great a shot everyone was (shooting guns out of hands from 100 yards away, etc).

It was like the director couldn't decide on whether to make the film realistic or fantastic, so just mixed both in a salt shaker and shook it all over the film.

I didn't want my 2:38 back, or anything. Just an OK movie.

I thought it was pretty good. Didn't expect it to end that way at all.