THE DROP is another gritty and realistic American crime drama of the kind that are all the rage. It stars the underrated Tom Hardy as a bartender who gets drawn into a murky world when his business is done over and he becomes implicated in the crime. Somewhat bizarrely, much of the character work in the film relates to an abused dog that Hardy finds and rescues, so animal lovers will probably enjoy these scenes. Hardy stars along with Noomi Rapace and the late James Gandolfini, for whom this was his last role before his sudden death. As a slow-burner, THE DROP is well put together and shot, but I kept thinking the story was mere build-up to something bigger, and then it ends, leaving me a little disappointed by the simplicity of the plotting.

Bartender Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) works at Cousin Marv's Bar and finds a puppy left in Nadia Dunn (Noomi Rapace)'s trash can. He reluctantly agrees to take the abused dog. A thug Eric Deeds (Matthias Schoenaerts) turns out to be the owner of the dog and Nadia's ex. Marv (James Gandolfini) allows gangsters to use the bar for cash drops from their illegal activities. Two masked men rob the bar. Detective Torres (John Ortiz) investigates. It turns out that Marv is the brains behind the robbery.

There are three great actors in this. Gandolfini is terrific as always and gives his usual tough performance. Hardy is playing a nice quiet guy and it doesn't really fit him. I keep expecting him to punch out Deeds. It's better if the movie can show his intensity earlier. Instead, director Roskam made him a blank for most of the movie. He's not even quietly intense. Rapace's character is rather bland. She's playing the damsel in distress which doesn't give her as much opportunity. Both Hardy and Rapace are trying to play beneath their level. It's not until the last act that the intensity truly ramps up. Roskam could have done a lot more with Hardy but he leaves it all to the last act. The switch isn't as compelling as Roskam expects because that's the character the audience expects from Hardy anyways. The surprise is the first two thirds of the movie. Also Eric's threat is meaningless since he knows that Eric didn't kill the guy or the supposed phantom partner. So the question is what was Bob's plan by bringing both the $10k and the gun. It's probably not something that should be dissected too much. The other way to make the surprise reveal work is if Bob is played by a weakling. That's definitely not Tom Hardy. The movie has three great actors but it's not as good as it should be.

"The Drop" is a 105-minute movie from last year and it is actually the last work by actor James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos") as this one came out almost a year after his untimely death. Rising stars Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace play the male and female lead, while Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts has a supporting part. The director is Michaël R. Roskam, who had his great breakthrough (together with Schoenaerts) with the Oscar-nominated "Bullhead" a couple years ago. The writer is Dennis Legane and if you have seen "Mystic River", "Gone Baby Gone" or "Shutter Island", you vaguely know what to expect.

Two cousins run a bar, but it is really a drop, which means a spot where organized criminals get along with their business. Sadly, one of the cousins is not so eager and makes schemes to rob the bar on several occasions and steal the money from these Russian mafia mobsters. Not the best idea as you can imagine. Apart from that, an injured puppy, a brutal ex-boyfriend, a waitress and a somewhat innocent bartender play big roles in this pretty atmospheric crime thriller. This is not really about the police solving cases here. It's way too big for them anyway. It's more about watching crime unfold in all kinds of situations from start to finish.

I enjoyed watching this movie and even if I am not the biggest Hardy or Rapace fan, I thought both did a fine job in terms of acting here, just like everybody else, especially the late Gandolfini. Pretty good movie. It's nothing Oscar worthy and there are maybe only 1 or 2 moments of real greatness, which is not enough for me to be really enthusiastic about it (one would be the phone moment between the cousins near the end),but it is enjoyable from start to finish and never really drags. Thumbs up and I recommend it.