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Sep 12, 2014 By Stephen Danay Web Exclusive

Bob Saginowski and his cousin Marv run a Brooklyn “drop bar,” an unassuming watering hole that acts as a temporary bank for mob money. When a pair of masked gunmen make off with thousands in illicit funds, Bob and Marv find themselves caught between the criminals and the cops in an effort to recover it.

Adapted from the Dennis Lehane short story “Animal Rescue,” The Drop marks the English language debut of acclaimed Belgian director Michaël R. Roskam and the final performance of the late actor James Gandolfini. His work as Marv, a bitter, beaten-down mob peon longing for former glory days, is both an unknowing coda and an effective microcosm of his lengthy career portraying weary, irritable hangdogs who inevitably resort to violence. Marv is far more desperate and far less capable than Tony Soprano and Gandolfini’s untimely death transforms his final scenes in the film from affecting to heartbreaking.

Although Gandolfini looms large over The Drop, the film ultimately belongs to Tom Hardy. Despite his Brooklyn accent sounding more like Creole by way of Benicio del Toro, Hardy proves once again that he is a character actor with a leading man’s looks. Bob Saginowski is a thoughtful lunkhead, smart enough to know that survival means doing what your told and not asking questions. Hardy plays him with equal parts somber deference and unassuming humor. That Bob’s major subplot, involving him adopting an adorable pit bull puppy, works at all is all due to Hardy finding the sweet spot between earnestness and caricature. Even his relatively by-the-numbers relationship with Noomi Rapace’s Nadia is played more as a platonic interest in companionship than an out-and-out romance. The character’s ultimate arc ends up hinging on an effective scene that feels somewhat underdeveloped and more than a little cliched, but Hardy sells it every step of the way.

While the various plot mechanics and character types have decades of mileage on them, Roskam makes great use of his talented cast and the wintery New York setting. The Drop is a pleasant reminder that the days of the quiet 70’s crime drama are not completely gone.

www.thedrop-movie.com

Author rating: 7/10