‘Dragged Across Concrete’ Sizzle: Mel Gibson & Vince Vaughn Are Morally Dubious Cops Trying To Get Paid

After penning the surprisingly well-received “Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich,” S. Craig Zahler returns with what could be his most controversial work to date. The evocatively titled “Dragged Across Concrete” sees the “Bone Tomahawk” and “Brawl in Cell Block 99” director take on the timely and contentious topic of police brutality, though early signs indicated that there could be less emphasis on the “brutality” part of this equation than his previous work might suggest. The new trailer may suggest otherwise, however.

READ MORE: Mel Gibson Is A Very Bad Cop In S. Craig Zahler’s Provocative & Troubling ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ [LFF Review]

Speaking to Riot Fest last year, Zahler stressed that his third feature would be “far less gory” than his previous releases. Moreover, it looks like the filmmaker has little interest in taking a side on the current national discourse, stressing that “it’s much more interesting writing people who are all over the spectrum and have all these different viewpoints … not presenting ‘one is right’ or ‘one is wrong,’ but maybe good people who are doing bad things and bad people trying to do okay things to better themselves.”

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On that note, Mel Gibson is set to star opposite ‘Cell Block’ lead Vince Vaughn in the new crime drama, and while the actor-director has earned the approval of critics in recent years for his work on “Blood Father” and “Hacksaw Ridge,” his past scandals continue to color his public image. With this in mind, you can expect that not everyone who views Zahler’s latest will share his reported philosophy of “art over politics,” even though most of his work seems inherently political in nature, always centering on a white, disenfranchised middle class. “Dragged Across Concrete” seems to focus on cops who have been f*cked by the system and many people in law enforcement are surely going to empathize. It’s a film that seems to pose some difficult questions about cops and therefore should be at least, semi-interesting.

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Here’s a synopsis for the film:

DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE follows two police detectives who find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics is leaked to the media. With little money and no options, the embittered policemen descend into the criminal underworld and find more than they wanted waiting in the shadows.

Gibson and Vaughn will star opposite Laurie Holden, Jennifer Carpenter, Fred Melamed, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Tattiawna Jones, Udo Kier, Thomas Kretschmann, and Myles Truitt. The film will be distributed by Summit Entertainment. Playlist writer Oliver Lyttelton reviewed the film at the London Film Festival last year and it seems a release date is imminent.

“Dragged Across Concrete” made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last fall. Summit Entertainment presents, a Unified Pictures production, a Cinestate production, in association with Look to the Sky Films and The Fyzz Facility, in association with Realmbuilder Productions. The film will be released in theaters and on demand on March 22nd, 2019 via Lionsgate.