History Film / DraggedAcrossConcrete

* EnhancedInterrogationTechniques: Downplayed. Brett gives Rosalinda a cold shower and then turns the ceiling fans on, while she's wet and almost naked. He doesn't lift a finger on her, but it's still a torture anyway. Ironically, [[spoiler: he ''doesn't'' get into any trouble over it, but a video of him pinning a suspect to a fire escape gets him and Tony suspended]].

** Henry just finished serving his sentence. He remains very calm despite facing stressful situations, easy forgives various things and strongly believes in HonorAmongThieves. And he would do anything for his younger brother. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He also has a fetish about Asian women]].

* FriendlyEnemy: There is a mutual understanding and weird form of friendship between Brett, an (more or less) upstanding police officer and Friedrich, a career criminal and pretty big fish in the criminal world. Back in the day, Ridgeman was lenient towards Friedrich's son, [[LetOffByTheDetective letting him go after a stake-out scott-free]]. Friedrich is obviously grateful, but he's still a criminal and Brett is a cop.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Henry is an accessory to a robbery that resulted in several deaths, which makes him a murderer according to the law, but he escapes scot-free and wins millions of dollars. Likewise, his mother is a junkie who blew her money on drugs rather than care for her youngest child. In the end, she's receiving a massage in a mansion]].

* KnightTemplarBigBrother: [[spoiler: The reason why Henry was doing time? He pulled a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on the guy responsible for crippling his younger brother. The guy ended up in intense care and Henry in prison]].

** Rants between Gibson and Vaughn about political correctness and how a single stint can ruin your career... oh, you mean it's characters talking about their police work?

** Hell, all the casting choices throughout the movie, including Creator/DonJohnson talking with Creator/MelGibson how they both used to be [[Series/MiamiVice popular]] [[Film/LethalWeapon cops]] back in the day, but one of them learned how to behave and the other didn't.

* MetaCasting: Creator/MelGibson and Creator/VinceVaughn as two racist police officers who routinely get in trouble because of the political correctness climate around and who ruin their carreers thanks to it. At times, it's so blatant it starts to grate on the audience.

** When talking with friends and the people he trusts, Henry's vocabulary gets much, much more nuanced and complex. His first on-screen discussion with Biscuit about getting acclimatised to the outside world and considering a new vocation is the prime example of it.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Ridgeman and Lurasetti express some very un-politically correct opinions about police brutality, race relations and masculinity, something you might expect from hard-nosed cops speaking with no filters. On the flip-side, they got suspended for something that would be perfectly reasonable and acceptable behaviour not only in any other cop movie, but even real life.
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: [[spoiler:Two whole scenes are dedicated to giving a backstory to Kelly, a bystander during the bank robbery who gets killed right at the beginning of the ordeal]].

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Ridgeman and Lurasetti express some very un-politically correct opinions about police brutality, race relations and masculinity, something you might expect from hard-nosed cops speaking with no filters.

* TurnInYourBadge: After being filmed during a hold-out, Brett and Tony end up suspended for excessive use of force.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: And against the person's own will, at that. [[spoiler: Vogelmann have blackmailed Mrs. Reed into killing Ridgeman and Lurasetti, or else his (non-existing) associates are going to murder her family. Being cops, neither Brett nor Tony is willing to shoot an innocent woman, so they let her come very close. But the moment she opens fire at Tony, Ridgeman puts a bullet in her head next second]].

* ValuesDissonance: In-universe. What Ridgeman and Lurasetti do during their capture of a drug trafficker looks like your standard fare police hold-out from any given police movie... but they end up suspended, with media turmoil over PoliceBrutality. For the record, they've holded a guy on a fire escalator and pinned him to the grate using foot.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* ModestyBedsheet: A truly ridiculous case, since the very first thing on-screen is Henry and Lana having sex, completely naked. When they are done, she covers herself up to shoulder level, while Henry only gets his groin covered. Then he proceeds to play with her boobs anyway, all on-screen, making the short moment with a bedsheet completely moot. Considering the film's rating, it's really, really bizarre.

** Vogelmann considers his "muscles" to be nothing else than tools at his disposal, [[spoiler: making it all but said aloud he plans to kill them after the job. He gives similar, if slightly more subtle, treatment to Black and Tan Gloves]].
** [[spoiler: The ultimate mistake Ridgeman makes is assuming this trope when he and Henry finish cleaning up after the messy confrontation in the safe house. With barely any choice left, Henry shoots him on instinct in self-defense, then chews him for his stupidity and lack of trust]].

* NobleBigotWithABadge: Both detectives are dedicated to their work, sympathetic and apparently spend their entire careers chasing baddies and never doing anything really wrong... but that doesn't make them any less racist, big-mouthed and simply mean toward their suspects. Just in their introduction, they continously pretend they can't understand Rosalinda, a hard-of-hearing Latina, and play up all the stereotypes relating to both Latinas and deaf people, despite her speaking unaccented English and not fitting any of said stereotypes.

* HyperlinkStory: A story about low-level criminal sorting his life after serving in prison. A story of two aging cops getting desperate after being suspended yet again. A story of brutal robbers preparing for their big job. A story of a young mother, fighting her post-pregnancy depression. They all weave together, eventually.

* EnhancedInterrogationTechniques: Downplayed. Brett gives Rosalinda a cold shower and then turns the ceiling fans on, while she's wet and almost naked. He doesn't lift a finger on her, but it's still a torture anyway. Ironically, [[spoiler: he ''doesn't'' get into any trouble over it, but a video of him pinning a suspect to a fire escalator gets him and Tony suspended]].

* BatterUp: Henry has a baseball bat hidden under a couch in his appartment and he goes right for it, hearing another man in the bedroom. He then proceeds to threaten the guy with it.

** The embrasure in the armoured truck.

** PlayedWith in case of [[spoiler: the make-up both Biscuit and Henry wear. While it's obviously fake when you look closely, from the distance it makes them both appear Latino]], which is enough to divert suspicion.

** First, he makes it crystal clear to [[spoiler: Vogelmann they only want the gold and will let the criminals live, as long as they hand over the loot. It doesn't work]].
** Later, he [[spoiler: points out to Henry they can continue the fight and, most likely, kill each other, or simply split the gold in half, which will leave them both rich and alive. After a short pause, Henry agrees and they proceed as quite an efficient duo, despite mutual distrust]].

* RevolversAreJustBetter: Brett is carrying a revolver as his service gun. He is quite effective with it, [[spoiler: to the point he personally kills entire gang of Vogelmann, despite them being armed with submachine guns and sitting inside an armoured van]].

** When talking with friends and the people he trusts, Henry's vocabulary gets much, much more nuanced and complex. His first on-screen discussion with Biscuit about getting acclimatized to the outside world and considering a new vocation is the prime example of it.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Midway through the film, the audience is treated to an extended vignette centered on Kelly Summer, a new mother and bank teller agonizing over the necessity to return to work after three months maternity leave. We get an extended sequence of Kelly retreating to her apartment from the bus stop, begging and bargaining with her husband at the locked door to touch her baby one more time before leaving. Then she returns to work, and is warmly welcomed by her manager and coworkers. Then the bank robbery commences, and after a tense standoff between the robbers and staff [[spoiler: Kelly has her skull blown to bits by a round of automatic fire. The movie promptly cuts back to Ridgeman and Lurasetti, and Kelly is never mentioned again.]]

** Vogelmann plan involves [[spoiler: a quick, brutal bank heist to steal golden bullion temporary stored inside with insufficient protection. The plan involves killing anyone in their way and also hiring two outside drivers for help. It goes south in no time]].

** Brett and Tony completely wreck the Vogelmann's masterplan. Not only their presence alone puts the entire operation to a screetching halt, but [[spoiler: the crew is completely unable to counter the detective duo despite having both superior firepower and an armoured van]].
* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The lyrics of the song playing in the radio during the finale are more or less about the story so far.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: [[spoiler: ZigZagged. Henry and Brett don't get along at all and Ridgeman is essentially taken hostage at a gunpoint and forced to finish Vogelmann off on his own. After a brief struggle, they manage to work together, but never trust each other and both sides are constantly expecting a back-stabbing]].

** [[spoiler: The ending. Ridgeman constantly recalculates probabilities and prepares for various situations on the fly. This overplanning gets him killed, as he jumps on Henry with a gun, trying to get a video clip of him killing Mrs. Reed. Henry pulls his own gun and fatally shoots Brett. While he is dying, Henry proceeds to call him out on this, because he was planning to delate the video on his own once they were done, but instead was forced to fight in self-defence]].

** [[spoiler: The bank tellers during the heist. Including Kelly getting quite literally blown to pieces with submachine guns. And then there is the bank manager. Last time his body is shown, the robbers really went through with castration. Making it completely pointless, since they get the gold and already killed half of the staff]].

** [[spoiler: Biscuit gets repeatedly shot at, mostly for the sake of torture. Then his dead body is dragged back into the van and he's disected there to retrive the key he swallowed]].

* WoundedGazelleGambit: And against own will, at that. [[spoiler: Vogelmann have blackmailed Mrs. Reed into killing Ridgeman and Lurasetti, or else his (non-existing) associates are going to murder her family. Being cops, neither Brett nor Tony is willing to shoot an innocent woman, so they let her come very close. But the moment she opens fire at Tony, Ridgeman puts a bullet in her head next second]].

* YankTheDogsChain: When [[spoiler: Tony is already dying from a fatal gunshot wounds]], he listens to Denise voicemail. [[spoiler: She rejected his marriage proposal. He even manages to talk with Ridgeman about how unexpected this is before he goes]].

* MoralityChain: As long as [[spoiler: Mrs. Reed is alive, the detectives are unwilling to assault on the van, not wanting to get her killed. After she's killed, Ridgeman murders the entire crew in less than 30 seconds, since there is absolutely nothing stopping him by then]].

* NoNameGiven: There are various, often bit characters that are still given a name, even if only during credits roll... but Black Glove and Gray Glove Robbers are never named or adressed in any way.
* NobleBigotWithABadge: Both detectives are dedicated to their work, sympathetic and apparently spend their entire careers chasing baddies and never doing anything really wrong... but that doesn't make them any less racist, big-mouthed and simply mean toward their suspects. Just in their introduction, they continously pretend they can't understand Rosalinda, a hard-of-hearing Latina, and play up all the stereotypes relating to both Latinas and Deaf people, despite her speaking unaccented English and not fitting any of said stereotypes.

** Henry's father left the family... with his boyfriend, leaving behind a wife and two sons. It's only ever mentioned in a passing.

** The sound of sex coming from the bedroom in Henry's flat upon his return from prison? That's [[spoiler: his ''mother'' having a client]]. The scene makes you assume he's going to confront unfaithful girlfriend or having a hypocritical dialogue about GoodAdulteryBadAdultery.

* ModestyBedsheet: A truly ridiculous case, since the very first thing on-screen is Henry and Lana having sex, completely naked. When they are done, she covers herself up to shoulder level, while Henry only gets his groin covered. Then he proceeds to play with her boobs anyway, all on-screen, making the short moment with a bedsheet completely moot. Considering the film's rating, it's really, really bizzare.

** Tony has pangs of consciousness over [[spoiler: allowing a brutal bank robbery to happen]].

* FanDisservice: A bank employee who is kidnapped by Vogelman and his gang spends the last third of the film half naked and humiliated. [[spoiler:She also winds up getting killed by Ridgeman when she's forced into trying to them on when her family is threatened]].

** Brett is too [[{{Pride}} proud]] to do various things that would simply make his life easier. This includes forcing his wife to stay at home rather than find part-time employment, despite their finances being short - simply because he can't admit to himself he made mistakes in the past and they are in dire need of money because of those mistakes. [[spoiler: This eventually pushes him into a plan of hitting some criminals right after they do some big score]]. His other flaw comes in form of his never-ending calculations and probability matching. [[spoiler: Should he play things cool, rather than overthinking them, he would live through the finale]].
* {{Fingore}}: Before [[spoiler: she]] is killed off, [[spoiler: Kelly gets all her]] fingers and half of hand blown into a bloody stump with a hail of gunfire.

* KillEmAll: By the end of the story, [[spoiler:only Henry, his family and Ridgeman's family are the only known surviving characters]].

* ModestyBedsheet: After Henry and Lana (a prostitute he had a crush on when they were in school together) have sex (emotionlessly on her end), she covers herself with a bedsheet, but he tells her she doesn't have to be uncomfortable or guarded around him, and she allows him to pull it down.

* NobleBigotWithABadge: Both detectives are dedicated to their work, sympathetic and apparently spend their entire careers chasing baddies and never doing anything really wrong... but that doesn't make them any less racist, big-mouthed and simply mean toward their suspects. Just in their introduction, they continously pretend they can't understand Rosalinda and playing up all the Latina stereotypes out there, despite her speaking unaccented English and not fitting any of said stereotypes.

* UndignifiedDeath: Where to even start... It really shows this is S. Craig Zahler film.
** [[spoiler: Victims of Black and Tan Gloves all end up with messy, brutal deaths]].

* ModestyBedsheet: A truly ridiculous case, since the very first thing on-screen is Henry and Lana having sex, completely naked. When they are done, she covers herself up to shoulder level, while Henry only gets his groin covered. Then he proceeds to play with her boobs anyway, all on-screen, making the short moment with a bedsheet completely moot. Considering the film's rating, it's really, really bizzare.

* NoNameGiven: There are various, often bit characters that are still given a name, even if only during credits roll... but Black Glove and Tan Glove Robbers are never named or adressed in any way.

[[caption-width-right:350: ''Those Who Can't Earn A Living Must Find Another Way To Provide.'']]

''Dragged Across Concrete'' is a 2019 crime drama written and directed by [[Film/BoneTomahawk S. Craig]] [[Film/BrawlInCellBlock99 Zahler]], starring Creator/MelGibson, Creator/VinceVaughn, [[Series/TrueDetective Tory]] [[Series/SonsOfAnarchy Kittles]], Creator/MichaelJaiWhite, Creator/JenniferCarpenter, and Creator/ThomasKretschmann.

* StupidCrooks: [[spoiler: For all their ruthlessness, Vogelmann's crew is ultimately painfully inept. While they have a detailed and relatively effective plan, they are completely unable to improvise, adapt or just come up with [[TimeForPlanB an alternative plan]] for when things start to go south. But worst of it all, they hire themselves some getaway drivers and do nothing but mistreat and antagonise them. Even without Ridgeman and Lurasetti showing up, things would get plenty complicated with just Biscuit and Henry being forced to fight for their lives. The crew is also incapable of splitting their loot and even when Ridgeman gets them trapped in their own van with no way of escape, they still won't even hear about negotiations and try to fight their way out. Which predictably gets them all killed by a single cop with a revolver, who ''slowly reloads mid-way'' of taking them out]].
** And then there is the extremely over-the-top way of [[spoiler: getting funds for their action in the first place. They leave a large trail of bodies just to quite literally rob their pockets, while using expensive weapons and accessories for that]].

** Ridgeman suggests to Tony that by [[KarmicThief jumping on some criminals at the right moment]], the could get lots of money that nobody can report stolen. [[spoiler: They end up being tangled into Vogelmann's extremely messy heist job]].

* InformedAttractiveness: The bank manager waxes very poetic about how enchanting Kelly's presence is in the office, and a co-worker pouts about how slender she's remained even right after childbirth.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Kelly is, most likely, suffering from postpartum depression which persists beyond her lenghty maternity leave - she's visibly unhinged and unable to just leave home and return to work. Her husband has to lock the doors and essentially kick her out. Whatever it is, she's not well.

* AsianStoreowner: [[AllThereInTheManual Sid]], the unfortunate cashier robbed by the Black Gloves.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Averted. Both white leads die, Henry lives.]]

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Explaining to Tony why they should even try to make a hit on some criminals, Brett mentions that despite being an extremely efficient police duo, they have zero respect and Ridgeman will soon retire without ever getting promoted beyond detective.
** On meta level, it's Creator/MelGibson LeaningOnTheFourthWall and talking how Hollywood made him a non-person after his drunk stint when pulled over by cops, ignoring all his prior works and treating him like air afterward.

* EasilyForgiven: A variation. Henry comes back from jail, only to find out that[[spoiler: his mother is still on drugs and hooking to make ends meet, which obviously affects his teen brother]]. Rather than getting angry, he calmly lets it all slide, promising to take care for the family and starts helping out right [[StealthPun off the bat]].

** Brett is too [[{{Pride}} proud]] to do various things that would simply make his life easier. This includes forcing his wife to stay at home rather than find part-time employment, despite their finances being short - simply because he can't admit to himself he made mistakes in the past and they are in dire need of money because of those mistakes. [[spoiler: This eventually pushes him into a plan of hitting some criminals right after they do some big score]].
*** His other flaw comes in form of his never-ending calculations and probability matching. [[spoiler: Should he play things cool, rather than overthinking them, he would live through the finale]].

** Rants between Gibson and Vaughn about political correctness and how a single stint can ruin your carreer... oh, you mean it's characters talking about their police work?

** Vogelmann considers his "muscles" to be nothing else than tools at his disposal, [[spoiler: making it all but said aloud he plans to kill them after the job. He gaves similar, if slightly more subtle, treatment to Black and Tan Gloves]].
** [[spoiler: The ultimate mistake Ridgeman makes is assuming this trope when he and Henry finish cleaning up after the messy confrontation in the safe house. With barely any choice left, Henry shoots him on instinct in self-defence, then chews him for his stupidity and lack of trust]].

** When talking with friends and the people he trusts, Henry's vocabulary gets much, much more nuanced and complex. His first on-screen discussion with Biscuit about getting acclimatized to the outside world and considering a new vocation is the prime example of it.

* StupidCrooks: [[spoiler: For all their ruthlessness, Vogelmann's crew is ultimately painfully inept. While they have a detailed and relatively effective plan, they are completely unable to improvise, adapt or just come up with [[TimeForPlanB an alternative plan]] for when things start to go south. But worst of it all, they hire themselves some getaway drivers and do nothing but mistreat and antagonise them. Even without Ridgeman and Lurasetti showing up, things would get plenty complicated with just Biscuit and Henry being forced to fight for their lives. The crew is also incapable of splitting their loot and even when Ridgeman gets them trapped in their own van with no way of escape, they still won't even hear about negotiations and try to fight their way out. Which predictably gets them all killed by a single cop with a revolver, who ''slowly reloads mid-way'' of taking them out]].
** And then there is the extremely over-the-top way of [[spoiler: getting funds for their action in the first place. They leave a large trail of bodies just to quite literally rob their pockets, while using expensive weapons and accessories for that]].

* ValuesDissonance: In-universe. What Ridgeman and Lurasetti do during their capture of a drug trafficker looks like your standard fare police hold-out from any given police movie... but they end up suspended, with media turmoil over PoliceBrutality. For the record, they've holded a guy on a fire escalator and pinned him to the crate using foot.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: While there is some semblance of friendly relation between Ridgeman and Calvert, it's obvious they had a fall-out in the past.
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt:
** Averted with Henry, since Lana is Asian and he had a crush on her ever since the elementary.
** Inverted with Tony, who's neck-deep into BlackGalOnWhiteGuyDrama with Denise.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: During the standoff between our two cop-protagonists and Vogelman's bank robbers, Lurasetti, prone behind the boot of his car, says that the robbers don't have the right angle to shoot him. Promptly, several bursts of gunfire from the van rain down on the pavement about 10-20 feet from the car, right in front of him. In reality, bullets love to hit hard ground at an angle and then travel almost parallel to the pavement, preserving enough energy to kill; an unintuitive property made clear to police officers in training videos, regarding the subject of taking cover behind a car. Given the amount of rounds fired, Lurasetti would have very likely caught a bullet or two right in the face, arms or upper body, without any way to quickly return fire.