Review: 'The Drop' Starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and James Gandolfini

Walk into any bar in any part of the world and the bartender is the one who knows and sees everything. They see people at their most inhibited and, much like servants in a posh palatial estate, are treated as invisible by the people they serve. Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) is one of these bartenders in The Drop (formerly Animal Rescue, a title they should've kept), a pot-boiling crime yarn from famed novelist Dennis Lehane, writer of the similarly threatening small-town dramas Gone Baby Gone and MysticRiver. The Drop may have a cuddly little puppy at the heart of its story but there's nothing soft about this tense mob drama.

The Drop marks the English-language debut of Belgian director Michael R. Roskam, whose breakout film Bullhead was nominated for an Oscar. Roskam's sensibilities wouldn't seem to mesh with such a distinctly American crime story, but his attention to character detail crosses all borders. That said; the film gets off to a slow start as bland narration by Saginowski explains the particulars of a "drop bar", a place where the shadiest crime elements can drop off dirty money without drawing suspicion. In this small corner of Brooklyn is the bar that the soft-spoken Bob pours drinks and keeps his head down, while his cousin Marv (James Gandolfini) bosses him around and laments his lot in life. Marv used to own the bar, heck it's still named after him, until the mob elbowed their way in.

An armed robbery by a couple of local thugs would seem to be the story's spark but the true catalyst is Bob's discovery of a bruised pit bull puppy, dumped in the garbage of the scarred and fragile Nadia (Noomi Rapace). The two begin to bond over the battered pup, and their mutually dark pasts. There's something about Bob that doesn't quite click at first. He seems too nice for this hard-scrabble community. He's slow, but certainly not an idiot. He's got wits of the blue collar variety, the kind one learns on the streets and nowhere else. It's possible he's never left the city limits all his life, and lives in his parents' old home.

The introduction of a puppy and girlfriend into his life leaves him wide open to threats both familiar and foreign. In particular Matthias Schoenaerts, star of Roskam's Bullhead, makes for an imposing, off-balanced menace as Eric, a local tough with a dangerous rep. He senses weakness in Bob and exploits it; much like a crew of Chechen mobsters has exploited Marv. This is, in part, about the power victims give to their tormentors. Everybody knows everybody in this town, and everybody has a rep, whether it's deserved or not. Of course there's also a nosey cop (John Ortiz) sniffing around about the robbery, threatening to uncover much more about everything and everyone.

This is a complex story about simple people, but Lehane and Roskam throw more in the mix than is necessary. The opening ten minutes hit us with one subplot after another, including a decade-old murder mystery, and as a result the story takes forever to truly take shape. As Bob takes his pup, which he names Rocco, out for walks in the park; one might ask "Is this it? Is this what the movie's about?" Violence snaps things back into place and us back to attention. While not grisly or excessive, when violence occurs it's stark and done for a reason. It also helps boil each character down to their essence. In the case of Bob, we begin to sense there's more to him than the mumbling loner we've been privy to. In what has been a year of Tom Hardy taking on challenging new roles, his performance in The Drop is like nothing we've seen from him before. Dialing down his natural intensity and taking on a fairly convincing Brooklyn accent (the mumbling thing has got to go, though); Hardy fits into the role of a man who just wants slip into the background, never heard and never seen. Gandolfini brings a Sopranos-esque credibility to what is a very familiar sort of role for him. Rapace and Schoenaerts are both great, as well, her showing a rare vulnerability and him exuding the same contained rage we saw in Rust & Bone.

Considering all of the talent on both sides of the camera The Drophas been flying a little under the radar. And perhaps in a way that's fitting for such an unassuming film about unassuming people to be one the season's sleepers. It's a solid first effort on our shores for Roskam, and welcome entry to the overcrowded crime genre.

 Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Five Clips from 'The Drop' Starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and James Gandolfini

While last year's dramedy Enough Said was a beautiful change of pace for the late James Gandolfini, showcasing a sensitive side we rarely had a chance to see on screen, his final performance is what we're more accustomed to. The last movie he completed was The Drop (formerly Animal Rescue), a crime flick that has all the pieces to be one of the fall's sleeper hits. Directed by Michael Roskam (the Oscar-nominated film Bullhead) and starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust & Bone), and Ann Dowd (The Leftovers), the film is based on a story by Mystic River author, Dennis Lehane. So the pedigree is there, and now five clips have arrived to show why people are so excited.

Hardy stars as bartender Bob Saginowsk as he tries to keep clean while working at a bar that serves as a "money drop" for Brooklyn's criminal underworld. Gandolfini plays his heavy-handed boss and cousin Marv, with Rapace as Nadia, a woman with secrets of her own as evidenced in one of the new clips. Each scene is a conversation that shows just how out-of-control things have become for Bob as he deals with a robbery gone awry. In one, Marv describes Bob's wasted life, while in another his beloved pitbull (hence the old Animal Rescue title) is held up for ransom.

The Drop opens September 12th.


The Drop Movie CLIP - Well I'm Not The Guy Who Wasted His Entire Life (2014) - Tom Hardy Movie HD. by Watch it tonigh


Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace in The Drop - Clip 4 - You Never Ask About It - HD by thecinemasource


The Drop Movie Clip - Puppy Name (2014) Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace Movie HD (HD) by NovaCotton


The Drop Movie CLIP - You Know What You're Gonna Do (2014) Tom Hardy Movie HD. by Watch it tonigh

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First Trailer for 'The Drop' Starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and James Gandolfini

While James Gandolfini's sensitive performance last year in Enough Said suggested a different side to him that we sadly would never get to see again, his final film is more in keeping with the actor we knew. Gandolfini stars alongside Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace in the gritty crime thriller, The Drop (formerly Animal Rescue), and the first trailer for it is here.

Co-starring Matthias Schoenaerts and directed by Michael Roskam (both of the Oscar-nominated Bullhead), the film centers on an ex-con (Hardy) trying to go straight, working in a bar that also serves as a "money drop" for the criminal underworld. When a robbery goes wrong, leading to the disappearance of his beloved pit bull, he gets sucked right back into the life he had been trying to avoid.

The Drop opens September 19th, when it's bound to get some Oscar attention.

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First Look at Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini in 'The Drop'

It's always sad when we lose a great actor, but what makes it tougher is watching their final performances. It was devastating when James Gandolfini passed away last year, made only more difficult by the sensitive performance he gave that suggested a new phase in his career. Gandolfini still had one more film left to entertain us in, teaming up with Tom Hardy, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Noomi Rapace for The Drop, which you may remember from its previous title, Animal Rescue.

USA Today has released the first images which show us Hardy, Gandolfini, and director Michael Roskam. Penned by crime novelist Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island), and based on his own story, the Boston-set flick centers on an ex-con turned bar owner trying to get his life straight with a girlfriend and pit bull by his side. His attempts to go clean go awry when the pit bull goes missing and he's thrust into the middle of a robbery gone wrong. His bar serves as a "money drop" for local thugs, hence the movie's title.

One last time to see Gandolfini do his thing, and he's surrounded by enough talent that The Drop could be something great. Look for it to open September 19th.

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Tom Hardy may star in Dennis Lehane's 'Animal Rescue'; Michael Roskam to direct

A lot has changed since we last caught up with Animal Rescue, an adaptation of a short story from acclaimed crime novelist Dennis Lehane(Mystic River, Shutter Island, Gone Baby Gone). In May we learned that Neil Burger was planning to direct it, but with his recently taking the reins on Divergent, a replacement needed to be found, and it's arguably a more exciting pick.

Michael Roskam, director of foreign Oscar-nominated Bullhead, will take over with Lehane adapting his own screenplay. Tom Hardy, who already has a couple of anti-poaching films on the way, will star in the film about a "lonely Boston bartender who rescues a puppy from a garbage can and becomes the target of the dog's abusive and mentally unstable former owner, while simultaneously getting caught in the middle of a criminal conspiracy playing out in his mob-controlled bar." Yep, I think that's right up Hardy's alley. Abusing animals makes Bane angry.

Both Hardy and Roskam are busy, but if everything comes together filming will begin early next year.

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Michael Roskam to direct 'The Tiger', produced by Brad Pitt and Darren Aronofsky

So you're Michael Roskam, and you just floored Hollywood with your Academy Award nominated debut feature, Bullhead. What would make for a good way to capitalize on all that earned acclaim and good will? By getting some of the biggest stars in the business to back your sophomore effort, that's how.


Roskam will direct an adaptation of The Tiger, a film which once had Darren Aronofsky attached. At that time, Angelina Jolie was set for one of the leads, but the project just didn't come together. At least not in that form. Brad Pitt must've seen something he liked while Jolie was circling the film, because he's come on board as a producer, and so is Aronofsky. John Valliant's novel centers on a team of trackers sent to hunt down a man-eating tiger that has been plaguing a small Siberian village. The script is being adapted by Guillermo Ariaga, who worked with Pitt on Babel and also wrote Amores Perros.

Holy crap that's one Hell of a pedigree this film has. Roskam is a talented filmmaker, so I'm anxious to see when thrown deep into the Hollywood mix.

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