Movie Review: 'The Drop,' Starring James Gandolfini

— -- Starring: James Gandolfini

Rated R

Four out of five stars

Dark and moody, clever and artful with a twist on cliché, "The Drop" is a surprising and tantalizing fall crime drama sprinkled with indelible moments provided by the consistently extraordinary Tom Hardy.

This movie, sadly, is also the last original movie to feature the late James Gandolfini. His larger-than-life presence and acting chops are also on full display here as he embodies a character not too dissimilar from Tony Soprano, had Tony been a conniving, low-level mobster who didn’t have the brains or wherewithal to properly lead his small-time crew.

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Hardy plays Bob, a bartender at Cousin Marv’s, a Brooklyn bar that was once owned by Gandolfini’s Marv. Technically, he still does own it, but it’s now run by Chechen mobsters. It’s also one of a network of bars used by the Brooklyn underworld banking system as a money drop. Our story begins when Cousin Marv’s is robbed, and before long the Chechens visit and insist that Marv and Bob get their money back.

Bob’s got a thick Brooklyn accent but doesn’t say much. His gaze vacillates between lost puppy, deer caught in the headlights, and quiet disbelief. He’s shy, but it’s a calculated shyness. Then on his walk home from the bar one cold night, he finds an adorable, clearly abused pit bull puppy in a garbage can that belongs to Nadia (Noomi Rapace). She slowly approaches Bob, interrogates him, then invites him and the puppy both into her home. The dog and Nadia open up an intriguing storyline masterfully navigated by novelist and screenwriter Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) and director Michael R. Roksam.

Hardy and Gandolfini are terrific scene partners. Their every moment together is filled with meaning, palpable subtext and, on occasion, humor. If you hunger for great acting, this movie is delicious. It’s not the most original story, but that weakness is balanced by Tom Hardy’s superb performance, some well-written, repeatable dialogue, and a couple of well-orchestrated surprise moments.