Dragged Across Concrete

The dialogue has a nicely off-kilter feel.

Dirty, angry, and it feels like it wants to pick a fight with you.

Dragged Across Concrete feels like you're dangling on the end of a meat hook. It's painful and tense and at the same time, a little ridiculous... Even then, it's full of surprises, and riches for those who like it darker.

Despite a running time (more than two and a half hours) that would normally seem excessive for this kind of movie, Dragged Across Concrete is never boring.

You look back and you pinpoint things that don't belong, adding or detracting...feels like wasted baggage. But this film challenges critics, and challenging audiences, and that's far more interesting than a filmmaker playing it safe.

What makes the film, which clocks in at 159 minutes, seem less calculating and cynical is the way that slow buildup is steeped in a melancholy that never lets up even through the subsequent violence.

The film is meant to be an endurance test, from its usage of violence and slurs, to its surprising slow burn, something you don’t often see with films of this calibre. But it doesn’t have enough focus to be riveting.

Dragged Across Concrete does what I hope more films had the bravery to do – challenge our beliefs, and make us challenge ourselves in the process.

Dragged Across Concrete is an excellent action flick with leads who, when they aren’t bitching about cell phones or correcting Black people’s grammar, are an absolute blast to be around.

It's gritty thriller that's as tough as its title.