The Drop is an underwhelming film for any movie-goer hoping to experience the same pure storyline bliss that any Tony Soprano fan longs for. As you can probably tell, The Sopranos left a big void in my heart (and every mob-loving fanatic) after its last episode aired in 2007. Although it’s a little unfair to compare The Drop to the cult classic HBO television series – you can’t help but hope that Gandolfini’s last film would give us an ass kicking, gun flailing farewell to one of the best actors in the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, if you were looking for closure, The Drop won’t give it to you.
The film is centered around Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) who runs a Brooklyn bar named after his cousin, Marv (James Gandolfini). The bar acts as a legit business but it is also an active site for money laundering where local mobsters “drop” (oh, someone cue in the title) money off to avoid the stinkin’ trails of dirty crime money (Hello, The Sopranos, anyone??). Bob and Marv are complicit to the drop and do whatever the crime boss tells them to do. As easily predicted, Marv is drowning in financial mayhem and it looks like he’s going to give into desperate acts to help pay for his father’s hefty life support bills. This is where the drop comes in to play and Marv finds himself on the other side of the Chechen’s own Tony Soprano wrath.
Marv doesn’t involve Bob in his attempt to rob the drop and it’s obvious that Bob wouldn’t go along with it anyways. Bob is portrayed as this meek character that seems like he wouldn’t hurt a fly, but he definitely has some weirdo vibes that you can’t quite put your finger on it. Is Bob a serial killer or is he a just a creepy version of Forrest Gump? Regardless of who he is, Bob spends a lot of his time trying to impress his dog sitter/potential future girlfriend, Nadia (Noomi Rapace) and she seems really dig his eerie ways. Sadly, Nadia has a crazy boyfriend that just got out of jail and is also looking for some creepy Nadia time.
Eric Deeds (Mathias Schoenaerts) is Nadia’s old boyfriend and rumor around the block is Eric is a cold-blooded murderer. So what does a murderer do to get his girlfriend back? He puts a half dying puppy in her trash because nothing shouts rekindled romance more than that. Bob and Nadia meet under this pretense and their relationship grows while mending the puppy back to life. Eric is pissed to say the least and he starts to hatch his own plans of revenge and blackmail. Eric meets up with Marv (not very surprising) and they devise a plan to rob the Chechen mobsters on the money drop’s most lucrative night – the Super Bowl. Marv urges Eric to curb his unpredictable crazy ways and warns Eric that Bob will be working the bar on night of the Super Bowl. Marv looks seriously at Eric and tells him to never underestimate Bob.
The premise of The Drop sounds interesting enough and I went into the film trying to get my Tony Soprano mobster hit for the year. To be honest, it didn’t even matter that James Gandolfini wasn’t playing his character we all love so much, I just wanted to see Gandolfini do what he does best – ACT. I have to admit that the character he did play was underwhelming and extremely boring. Even Tom Hardy’s performance was lackluster in his portrayal of Bob Saginowski and it was hard to believe that I was watching the final cut of the film. It felt like I was watching Tom muttering lines to himself, similar to watching a transient carry a conversation to themselves on a bus, but even that would’ve been more compelling.
James Gandolfini and Tom hardy are both exceptional actors, which made me wonder if this was the film director’s fault (Michael Roskam). But, whoever is to blame for Gandolfini and Hardy’s performance sure didn’t seem to influence Noomi Rapace who did a remarkable job playing her character. If you decide to watch this film, watch it for Noomi and her familiar edge-of-the-seat acting we watched in the Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
PASS on the film if you’re going to the movie theatre, but definitely spend a dollar for it once it comes out on Red Box. And to all of The Sopranos fans, save yourself the heartache and just re-watch the entire HBO series. It’s a better way to cope with your loss of Tony Soprano’s wifebeater and fuzzy bathrobe.
The Movie Gab 