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Created Sep 18, 2014 09:05PM PST • Edited Nov 23, 2018 08:50AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Dennis Lehane took a short-story set in his characteristic Boston and expanded it into a screenplay set in Brooklyn. This works, great writer that he is, even if the story’s legs don’t so much cohere as cohabitate.

   The Drop won’t cohabitate as among his best with Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, that’s for sure.
   It still delivers great satisfaction however, especially featuring two of the greatest actors working today.

   Make that working yesterday, as The Drop marks James Gandolfini’s last hurrah. He plays (played?) the kind of guy Tony Soprano preyed upon, which is perfect. He didn’t have to play at being an obese smoker, also perfect in a macabre way. Sadly but not surprisingly, his heart gave out shortly after the film wrapped.

   Tom Hardy buddies up well to him as his junior partner. Hardy is the Brando of the 21st Century, a Brit who has no trouble sounding American born. Playing a kindhearted Brooklyn palooka, he’s nails.

   Low-key in rFactor as well as storyline, notwithstanding more than a little murder, The Drop falls short of my 2014 Great Movies list, but is well worth seeking out. Lehane writing for Gandolfini & Hardy? Yep.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   James Gandolfini had become the modern master of middle-aged organized crime figures, more laconic than De Niro or Pacino, able to convey a world of meaning with just a nod. Playing a player brought low by a new wave of crime family, he created a juicy character that is an appropriate capstone to his storied career.

   Tom Hardy plays Good Guy, which is always a treat. That he does it sounding American-born puts him in Daniel Day-Lewis territory. There’s not a lot of actors out there.

   Noomi Rapace disappoints as the girl he falls for, being less capable than him of playing foreign.

   Supporters

   • Matthias Schoenaerts is a favorite of director Michaël Roskam, who also cast him in Rust and Bone. We can see why.
   • John Ortiz is an appealing screen presence, here as a friendly Detective. Ortiz first registered with me in Silver Linings Playbook.
   • Elizabeth Rodriguez pops off-screen as a hot rival Detective.
   • Michael Aronov explodes off-screen as a Chechen Crime Lord in Brooklyn. Morgan Spector plays his muscle.
   • James Frecheville stands out as a young punk.
   • Ann Dowd stands out as Gandolfini’s sister, the two of them living together in their Fifties.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    Lesser Lehane offers greater satisfaction than most crime films. Why lesser? The Drop is based on a Dennis Lehane short story expanded to feature film size. It feels a bit stretched as a result

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

    Brussels-based Michaël Roskam crosses the pond quite effectively, directing a film with a deep sense of place: Brooklyn, that most redolent of American film milieus.

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.7

17. Sex Titillating 1.7

18. Violence Brutal 3.5

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

21. Reality

    Glib 1.3

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.8

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0