RAVE - The Drop

One of these days, someone will make a movie set in Brooklyn, or New Jersey, where the sun occasionally shines, and people occasionally have a smile of their faces. But neither were to be seen in this gloomy portrait of a bar used as a drop for the ill-gotten gains of a Chechen gang.

One side-note was the devastating logic used by the dour barman, Bob Saginowski when he told Cousin Marv that he was wrong to call them Chechnyan. "But they come from Chechnya" said Marv. "Right, but you don't call people from Ireland 'Irelandians' do you?"

Bob was played by Tom Hardy, who among other roles was Handsome Bob in RocknRolla - despite Mrs Page constantly referring to him as "Gorgeous George".

Bob's slow-burning love interest was Naomi Rapace. I seldom remember actresses from their earlier roles. My excuse this time was that she looked unrecognizable with eyebrows (she was eyebrowless in The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo trilogy).

And the Drop bar's former owner, James Gandolfini, was in his last role before sadly passing away.

Bob and his love interest were not the only slow burners here. The film's pace, tone, and action was almost always on a low heat, which allowed us to focus on the excellent performances by our main trio, and equally on the plot. It took some time to develop, but it was worth it in the end.