A movie plot that is, for all intense and purposes, centred around modern media outrage and the 'film everything' culture on mobile phones? Interesting.
OK so it's not entirely based around that. The basis for the main story stems from the fact that people film everything on their smartphones these days; and the fact that things can easily be perverted by media outrage (and social media outrage). Not an entirely new notion over the course of history but it can be argued that in our present day, in this moment of time, both are reaching their zenith. These highly contentious issues play a strong role in the plot of this film.
The Plot: Two cops, Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn) arrest a drug dealer. Unfortunately the duo are filmed whilst doing so and find themselves accused of police brutality (Ridgeman held the suspect down by placing his foot on the back of the suspect's neck). Both are suspended for six weeks with no pay. In order to keep their heads above water financially (for their family purposes mainly) Ridgeman uses the criminal connections he's developed over time as a cop to get info on a possible heist that they can hijack.
The info they get leads them to a potential bank robbery organised by a mysterious man called Vogelman (Thomas Kretschmann). Vogelman's team consists of two other mysterious men who are always masked, and two African Americans, Biscuit (Michael Jai White) and Henry (Tory Kittles). Both Biscuit and Henry are merely hired guns for the heist and so discover Vogelman and his two assistants are highly vicious killers. The heist goes off without a hitch and the team escape...but with both Ridgeman and Lurasetti tailing close behind.
So when I first heard about this I thought it was going to be a high octane action thriller. I mean look at the two protagonists for heaven's sake! We've got Mel Gibson who's looking more and more like your average blue-collar dad having a grumpy day...but in behind closed doors he's actually a hard as nails badass. And then you've got Vince Vaughn who you know would be the perfect wise-cracking smartass partner in this epic buddy cop action flick. But it so isn't this!
K this is not a bad thing. This movie is actually a slow-burning cop drama noir where we follow the duo around, slowly, as they come to terms with their predicament and then slowly form a plan to rob some robbers. When I say slow I mean slow. Not that this is a boring movie no, but director S.Craig Zahler simply takes his time in building the characters. He allows us to get to know both cops inside out. We get to know what is driving both men, what they need to do and why, and eventually just how good they actually are as cops. These guys are not a pair of bumbling half-wits oh no. Turns out they are damn good cops...that have been forced down a dark route in order to save their humble family lives.
But what's really interesting is the fact that neither of these guys are particularly politically correct and the film does tend to glorify this (to its credit). Ridgeman is an old school cop who doesn't fudge around. He gets things done the way he sees fit and if that upsets social media, well feck em'! It's also Ridgeman who comes up with the idea to track and rob a heist. He is a solid cop, true blue. He knows the score and clearly won't hesitate to get dirty if needs be. Oh and he even smokes...on camera! What kind of apocalyptic doomsday chaos is this?? Will someone please think of the children!
I found myself feeling sorry for the duo (especially Ridegman) when they are suspended for their actions. The film perfectly captures in one scene of dialog how infuriating modern society and social media can be. The fact that some prying member of the public was at their window filming everything, probably for their own social media standing. To gain 'likes' and attention. The fact that the media blew the whole thing up in order to boost their own ratings. Outrage clickbait to mobilise the online SJW outrage mobs. 'the indelicate treatment of a minority who sells drugs to children', a powerful and clearly controversial piece of dialog but one that explains a lot in the context of the movie. Yes Ridgeman stood on the neck of a minority suspect, which is wrong, but lets conveniently overlook what this guy was doing.
Zahler is also brave enough to take on social issues surrounding communities in poor areas. Ridgeman's family live in a poor area of the city with many different people from different backgrounds. A diversity of cultures all packed together tightly. During the film we see Ridgeman's young daughter assaulted by a group of young African American boys. We are told this has happened a few times before (three I think it was). 'you know, I never thought I was racist before living in this area'. 'we really do need to move'. Is what Ridgeman's wife states to him one evening. Again hard dialog but Zahler isn't sugarcoating this drama.
His partner Lurasetti is also a solid cop with a solid work ethic. He technically didn't do anything when Ridgeman assaulted the suspect. Yet he was also suspended and follows Ridgeman down this corrupt path, but not without concern of course. It is Lurasetti who points out the moral issues when the duo follows and watches the gang rob their target bank and people are brutally killed. Ridgeman acknowledges his concerns but stays focused on the goal.
We also get a good in-depth look at the counter character of Henry. His mother is a drug-addicted prostitute and his son is wheelchair bound! So everyone has some major family issues in this film, no one is left out. Henry takes up the gig of being a getaway driver for Vogelman only to earn some money for his family. Alas he gets caught up in a night of betrayal and murder. As for the bad guys, well they are bad alright. Not as much is known about these gents. The ring leader Vogelman seems to be German I guess (although that's probably because Kretschmann is) and is very Hans Gruber-esque, minus the laughs. He knows exactly what he's doing and appears to be highly precise. His two henchmen remain anonymous throughout. We never see their faces as they are hidden under masks. All we see is their lips, so we know they are caucasian at least. Both are outright maniacs with psychopathic tendencies.
Zahler really delves deep with this film. He doesn't just throw out action sequences with explosions and car chases. Everything is methodical and played out as if it were in real-time. So in the end the big finale isn't a fast shoot-out, it's another slow burn situation where the cops must think about how to defeat their opponents. Essentially a long drawn-out yet highly engaging game of chess in a way. Who will make the first move and will it be the right one? Whilst many scenes are like this in the film it does seem at times like its padding. For instance, we see the masked bad guys rob a small liquor store and a couple of guys in a car. But why? What was the point of those scenes? Just to show us how psychotic they both are? Then we get a subplot surrounding a young woman going back to work after maternity leave (to the bank that gets robbed). Again why did we need that? I understand that it gives us even more character development, an insight into one of the bank workers before the robbery, but ultimately it did seem like padding. Did we really need that?
I could also question what on earth any of these guys would do with all that gold bullion they stole. I can't imagine you could melt it all down easily (I guess), or just sell it without raising lots of questions. Would it be trackable? I get that someone with the right knowledge or contacts might have an idea, but what about the Ridgeman family who get a box of gold right at the end. What the hell are they supposed to do with it??
With all that being said this is a very different animal to what we've been getting recently. It's very slow yet multifaceted, highly detailed, gritty, extremely hard-edged, chock full of explosive dialog...enough to make a liberal faint, and with two archetypal yet highly engaging protagonists (anti-heroes). The violence and gore can be shocking, the bad guys are some of the most merciless we've seen for some time, and there is also a surprisingly strong undercurrent of dark edgy humour. It goes from looking dull to eye-popping in more of an artistic manner and the performances are top notch (Gibson getting better and better with age...somehow, cos he was never this good way back. Whilst Vaughn is now a solid straight actor? What the flip is going on??).
Overall it's good, it's surprisingly very good, but maybe a little overstuffed at times.
7/10
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