Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) works in a bar in Brooklyn. The pub used to belong to his cousin Marv (James Gandolfini), where it gets its name from “Cousin Marv’s”, but when the Chechen mob arrived Marv lost it. Now he just works there. It is one of the many many bars that serves as a “drop” bar, where all the night’s criminal money making gets held overnight.
Bob is a bit of a loner. He doesn’t seem to have much outside work. He’s a bit soft-hearted, he lets the resident drunk drink for free and even lets her smoke after 12. He works hard but doesn’t seem too interested in anything.
But when Marv’s gets robbed one night he was interested enough to notice that one of the robbers was wearing a broken watch. A detail he tells the police. And on his way home one night he is aware enough to hear a little whimpering coming from a trash-can, and so rescues a little puppy that someone had beaten and then thrown away.
But the robbery was not just two idiots who didn’t know what bar they were robbing. And that puppy wasn’t left in that bin at random.
As a film The Drop is a fairly standard story of criminals and past secrets coming back to haunt the characters. It is well told, and interesting enough, but it is far from an intriguing or stand out film. It does, however, have two aces up its sleeve. The actors, and the dog.
Gandolfini doesn’t do anything that we haven’t seen from him before, but he does it so well that that really doesn’t matter. Here he is a similar character to his most famous character, Tony Soprano, only Marv never made it as a criminal. He tried, but it didn’t work for him. He is a failed tough guy, living with his sister. He is, as always, a definite presence when on the screen.
And of course it has Tom Hardy. Nuff said.
But the supporting cast are excellent too, especially Michaekl Aronov who plays the Chechen mob-prince. He doesn’t actually do anything while on screen but he is incredibly menacing at the same time. Rapace as well does all that she is asked to do, although her character isn’t as developed as some of the others, there to provide back-story and a link to Eric Deeds more than anything in her own right.
And the dog, Rocco.
Tom Hardy and puppies. It is what the internet was made for :)
But really this is a film worth watching purely for Hardy’s portrayal of Bob. I think anything with him in it is instantly watchable, so while this is probably an average enough film, (a 6 or 7 star for me) Hardy’s acting always raises my enjoyment level just that little bit.
It is a film that is probably a little long for the plot, it has a nice slow build but the payoff isn’t quite as rewarding as it should be. It is set in that world were the police have no real role, where doing the right thing isn’t what a normal person might think it is, and where violence is ever present.
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