I love it when I’m surprised by a movie. I mostly knew about this movie because it was James Gandolfini’s last movie. I put it in my “watch when I get around to it” pile and forgot about it as I made my way through my Netflix queue.  The Drop has many of my favorite elements with a small cast of well defined characters played by strong actors, a tight, localized crime story topped off by a great ending.

Bob Saginowsi is a quiet guy working in his cousin Marv’s bar. There’s a long history of organized crime in the neighborhood and the bar is occasionally used as a money drop location for sports betting run by the Chechens. One night, the bar is robbed by gun point for $5,000. The mob want their money back and the police are called because one of the employees gets his head cracked open by the fleeing criminals. Bob ends up giving the cops some identifying information he should have kept to himself which draws a lot of unwanted attention from both the police and the Chechens. From there, the history of Bob, his cousin and the neighborhood gets dredged up with shocking revelations.

First, Tom Hardy as Bob is amazing. He changes his mannerisms and speaking patterns to fit this character perfectly. He’s never Tom Hardy on screen, only Bob Saginowsi, I loved this guy from start to finish. His morals, how he interacts with people, the way he handles things that come at him. You can tell he’s seen a lot in his life, but he hides it so well that you can’t figure out exactly what’s going on with him. Noomi Rapace plays the damaged Nadia to perfection (I kept seeing Marisa Tomei in her performance) and is the perfect anchor for Bob. Their relationship is really well developed. James Gandolfini as cousin Marv holds it down as the shady relative with bitter dreams of grandeur. I was really blown away by Mattias Schoenaerts as Eric Deeds, who is the main antagonist to Bob. I’ve never seen Mattias before, but he’s perfectly cast to play against Tom Hardy (and Bob). He’s physically intimidating and plays the unstable type really well. Eric is bad news, the neighborhood boogeyman as he sulks about with his hood up and his reputation dragging around behind him.

While two men fighting over a woman (and an adorable puppy) is nothing new, I became completely enamored with how it’s handled in The Drop. The build up comes through the entire movie and doesn’t reach a climax until the end. Eric is introduced subtly and slowly and becomes a bigger and bigger threat with each passing scene. Bob and Eric’s conflict never breaks into a simple fist fight or screaming match at the drop of a hat. Eric is a menacing presence and the question of when he’s going to blow up and how Bob is going to (or even if he can) handle it is asked and amped up with each escalating confrontation.

Bob reminds me a lot of Driver from the movie Drive (which I also loved). They lead their respective movie as stoic hero. A rather poetic character with old school machismo and motivations to do good. They both don’t want any trouble, but if forced, they protect themselves and others as necessary. Such a great movie, highly recommended.