The Drop 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: This is a movie you stumble across when hunting for something to watch: goodish, with the right dreary atmosphere. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Returns the erstwhile Tony Soprano to the world of crime, albeit at a lower rung and without the explosive temper. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Less than top-drawer Lehane but well worth watching all the same. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: "The Drop" doesn't always feel fresh, but its dialogue is smart and its cast is vivid; you'll want to leave this neighborhood, but not before the story is done. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: You have to sit through the slow parts to savor the cool parts. The movie's little surprise is that you didn't waste your time watching it; you were just being primed for an explosion of low volume and high impact. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Tom Hardy gives another terrific performance as a Brooklyn bartender in writer Dennis Lehane's adaptation of his own short story. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Lehane adapted The Drop from one of his own short stories, and it has the feel of a modest yarn stretched uncomfortably to feature length. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "The Drop" could have been an ordinary crime drama, but it's elevated by extraordinary performances. Read more

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: Not that it needed demonstrating, but Hardy once again shows what quiet force and phenomenal range he has. He's like a young Liam Neeson with Michael Fassbender chops. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Lehane's climactic plot twist is all the more laudable because it springs directly from complexity of character; you realize the truth has been obscured not through a writer's trickery but through your own simple reading of the action. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: With actors as interesting as Hardy, Gandolfini and Rapace, at least the cliches in "The Drop" have a fighting chance of holding your attention alongside the odd severed limb. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's a slow-cooking set-up for a startling climax. One, thanks to fine acting, that comes with powerful revelations. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Rapace somehow layers on a New York accent, Hardy brings his sweet, slow fuse and Gandolfini ... well, he makes you ache for more. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: With the arrival of The Drop, a disturbingly dark little thriller that wears its tension like a badge, the fall film season has arrived with a deadly bang. Read more

Jeff Labrecque, Entertainment Weekly: There's a lot of repressed rage in The Drop, a Dennis Lehane crime story about a lonely Brooklyn barkeep who's drawn out of his self-imposed isolation ... Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: A sharp, character-rooted crime film. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: While "The Drop" has an enviable feeling for the dark end of the street, the kind of across-the-board success it's seeking remains just out of reach. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Fine performances, including Gandolfini's last, help compensate for a patchwork plot by first-time screenwriter Dennis Lehane. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: An enjoyable, grimy little crime drama, with a few overly arty camera angles but enough flashes of honest emotion (and at least two surprisingly cold bits of violence) to make it worth your while. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Like Gandolfini, the deep Brooklyn of "The Drop" is formidable, bona fide and memorable. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mr. Roskam's direction is gratifyingly loose. He lets the story, which is really the least interesting part of the movie, more or less take care of itself, allowing us to savor pungent morsels of dialogue and bits of low-key actorly showboating. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: In his final role, Gandolfini may be playing a mobbed-up man again, but he was too gifted an actor to repeat himself. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: In the end, this tale of lonely souls and soulless thugs - of money and morality - even feels kind of hopeful. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The Drop's unpredictability is organic rather than sensationalistic. The movie doesn't pull surprises out of thin air for the sole purpose of shocking an audience - it lets them develop naturally. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: James Gandolfini's final film role: quietly magnificent work. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The Drop, a potent, propulsive crime drama, gives us one more chance to salute the formidable talent of a remarkable actor [James Gandolfini] who died in June 2013 at age 51. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I found this dark odyssey through an amoral dream Brooklyn curiously invigorating; it's a masterful construction that held me rapt from first shot to last, that builds intense electrical energy and then releases it. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Hardy gets the vast majority of screen time, and he handles the heavy lifting like a pro. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: While director Michael Roskam lays the groundwork for a heist thriller, "The Drop" is fueled by character, not plot. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Roskam treats the material with reverence, and the working-class Brooklyn setting with a painterly eye. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The Drop is steeped in a simmering underworld familiar to fans of late directors Sidney Lumet and Arthur Penn, and stripped of primary colours like their '70s cinema classics. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: At one point during the press screening, in fact, I almost jotted down "watered-down Dennis Lehane" until I remembered that Lehane himself actually wrote this script, based on his short story "Animal Rescue." Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: You wait for ominous clouds to fulminate. They never quite do. Read more

Jim Slotek, Toronto Sun: It's a classic case of a little becoming a lot onscreen on the basis of a single impressive performance. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The Drop is a taut yarn that bides its time. Slow-burning tension, dark wit and superlative performances will keep audiences captivated. Read more

Chuck Wilson, Village Voice: Its heart lies in the noirish past of both movies and literature. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: As a vehicle for those two actors, The Drop is gangbusters. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Convincingly conceived, so detailed and acutely observed ... Read more