Twelve Years On, The Drop Still Catches Up With Its Own Robbery

The Drop puts Bob Saginowski at the center of a Brooklyn bar robbery, and Tom Hardy plays him as a man who never quite gets out of the way. The film, directed by Michaël R. Roskam and written by Dennis Lehane, runs 106 minutes and leans on crime, drama and a neighborhood full of people who work together no matter the cost.

Trailer, via Searchlight Pictures UK.

Bob and the Bar

Tom Hardy plays Bob, a barman who works at a mafia-run establishment that serves as a drop for illegal money. The bar belongs to his cousin Marv, played by James Gandolfini in his final film role. Bob finds himself caught up in an investigation after the bar is robbed by two masked gunmen.

Nadia and the Dog

Noomi Rapace plays Nadia, a woman whose home a pit bull pup is abandoned outside. Bob rescues the dog, names it Rocco, and bonds with Nadia, who offers to care for the animal while he works. Later, she reveals scars on her neck were self-inflicted during a struggle with drugs.

Chovka’s Threat

Chovka Umarov, played by Michael Aronov, threatens Marv and Bob to recover his stolen money. Marv is revealed to have orchestrated the robbery through a meeting with Fitz, one of the thieves. A discussion with his sister Dottie shows Marv is desperate to pay for his father’s life support.

Detective Torres

John Ortiz plays Detective Torres, who recognizes Bob from church and questions his reluctance to take communion. Torres also questions Bob about the robbery, including a detail about a broken watch worn by one of the robbers.

The Severed Arm

Marv and Bob find a bag outside the bar containing the stolen money and a severed arm with the broken watch, apparently delivered by the Chechens. The discovery sets off a chain of events that pulls the neighborhood deeper into the investigation.

Eric Deeds

Tobias Segal plays Eric Deeds, a man who later visits the bar and hints at intimate knowledge of Nadia. Marv informs Bob that Deeds is the man who has long claimed to have killed Richie Whelan, the bar’s unsolved missing man.

The Ending

Bob confronts Nadia, who later admits that Deeds is her unstable ex-boyfriend. The film closes with Bob disposing of the arm in New York Harbor and being questioned again by Torres.

The Drop moves with a steady, grim pace. Hardy’s performance carries the weight of a man caught between loyalty to his cousin and the consequences of a robbery he didn’t orchestrate. The supporting cast, including Gandolfini, Rapace and Aronov, fills out the neighborhood with people who know each other’s secrets.

The film’s strength is its sense of place. Brooklyn feels lived-in, and the bar functions as a small town where everyone has a stake in the outcome. The weakness is a middle stretch where the plot slows, weighed down by exposition about the Chechens and the robbery.

Roskam directs with a steady hand, letting the performances breathe. Lehane’s script, adapted from his short story “Animal Rescue,” keeps the stakes human even when the story turns toward violence.

The Drop is a solid, if uneven, crime drama that benefits from strong acting and a tight setting. It drags in the middle but lands on a note of quiet dread. We rate it 6.9 of 10.

Brooklyn · crime drama · James Gandolfini · movie review · Tom Hardy