The Drop is a dark, brooding crime film starring Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini. Directed by Mikaël Roskam, this film focuses on Bob, a low level shy bartender at Cousin Marv's. The bar is a "drop bar" in which the mob's money gets laundered there. While this does sound like the story to The Drop, it isn't. The film is much more a character study first about Bob and his back story. What this film does beautifully is show the progression of the story strictly through casual dialog, explaining why Bob is the way he is. Our first clue to Bob's back story is a subtle hint as he attends church and does not accept the communion offering. A recurring theme throughout the film is the idea of how a sin can weigh your conscious down. Some of this is heavy handed and others are very subtle and mostly through something as small as a glare from Tom Hardy or a sigh from James Gandolfini. Quite frankly, without these amazing performances from everyone across the board, this film would more than likely sink after the first 30 minutes. The entire cast from Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Repace, Matthias Schoenaerts, John Ortiz, they are all in top form here. There is not one hollow or fake performance, they are all pitch perfect and really pull together to mend the story and progress it very well. The real stand out is Tom Hardy though, who continuously keeps turning in really well, thoughtful and master class performances, The Drop is no exception. Gandolfini also gives a fitting final performance here and knocks it out of the park. Watching him on the screen is rather haunting in a bittersweet way. Roskam seems to rely heavily on letting his actors work without every manipulating a scene with high tech camera work or any camera movement at all. This is a straight forward film filled with actual characters that feel alive and feel vulnerable and at any moment their life could end in this world that Roskam creates. This isn't the hipster Brooklyn that Brooklyn has seemingly become lately, this is Roskam's Brooklyn and its a cold land without any glorification. The screenplay by Dennis Lehane is top notch, establishing plot points by sprinkling them across the entire film before finally concluding in a twisted but necessarily dark ending that ties everything together. While this does work for the most part, it does feel a bit muddled in second act as if the story is in some sort of limbo, but it quickly gets back on track in no time. The film does have its lighter moments within dialog and scenes with Rocco the pitbull puppy, but for the most part this a really dark film with an equally gritty scenery. Overall, The Drop is a tense and gritty crime film with an amazing cast that doesn't miss a beat. I highly recommend it.
