Dragged Across Concrete  ★★★

WITHOUT bothering to check, I wonder if Craig S. Zahler wrote Dragged Across Concrete with Mel Gibson in mind.

Specifically one of Gibson’s three iconic cinema characters, Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon series; the others being Mad Max and William Wallace (Braveheart).

Gibson’s world-weary cop, Brett Ridgeman, in Zahler’s third feature film isn’t too far removed from Martin Riggs 20 years on and nearing retirement.

The character shows glimpses of a nihilistic attitude to all but his family and younger partner, Anthony Lurasetti, here played by Vince Vaughan.

When a bystander’s video of them handcuffing a suspect to a fence and standing on the back of his head is sent to the local TV news, they are in trouble with their bosses again.

As his equally jaded commanding officer and former partner, played by Don Johnson, says: “There’s a reason why you’ve been the same rank for 30 years.”

Already desperate for money – Ridgeman to move his family to a safer neighbourhood and Lurasetti for a planned proposal to his girlfriend – they are handed six weeks’ suspension without pay.

At the same time a man named Henry Johns (Troy Kittles) has just been released from prison and is already being roped into a robbery by his friend Biscuit (Michael Jai White) and an unnamed ruthless killer is conducting a series of robberies.

As you would expect, eventually all five men collide in a bloody, protracted climax fighting over a van full of stolen cash and gold.

‘Protracted’ is one of the key words here as Zahler’s film is more than two-and-a-half hours long with pretensions of being a cross between Pulp Fiction, with its overlapping storylines, and Heat, with its explosive weapons combat sequences.

It’s not as good as either of those films, but I appreciated the way Zahler let all his actors ease into their roles and play out the scenes in a fly-on-the-wall, naturalistic fashion.

There’s a resulting authenticity to the characters and understanding that everyone, whether protagonist or victim, has a story and background.

Like his two previous films, Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 (which also starred Vaughan and Johnson), Dragged Across Concrete includes some extremely violent moments.

But unlike the other films this is very much a series of character studies that build to a genuine desire for everything to eventually work out fine for the main characters…which of course they never do.

Zahler continues to march to the beat of his own drum and good luck to him.