You gotta love a movie that has no payoff. You know the kind where you spend the entire running time waiting for something cool to happen and waiting for all of the mysteries to be resolved only to be left flat and defeated. You sit in awe and wonder how you were yet again duped by some arrogant filmmaker who thinks his vision is so great that everyone in the world will be amazed at how clever he is. The Drop is one of those movies and that is exactly how I feel right now. The movie that sets us up with a page from Pulp Fiction as there is a curious glowing briefcase that acts as a centerpiece. The characters then spend the entire movie referring to us with what is in it without telling us. What a waste of time to discover that we will never know. Sure, Quentin used a similar device in Pulp Fiction but that film's entire plot and point did not rely on the contents of the briefcase. In The Drop, the mystery is played out as a major plot point that, much to our dismay, is never explained in any way. I seriously feel like ten minutes got edited from the end of the movie between the final fade-out and the closing credits.

Michael Bondies stars as Carter, a college student who takes a job that will pay him $5,000 to drive a car from Northern California to Los Angeles. En route to L.A., Carter eats a burger, listens to rap, and talks to his girlfriend on the phone while we are treated to a montage of her smiling and rolling around on her bed fully clothed. Upon arrival at the parking garage where he is to deliver the car, Carter's curiosity gets the better of him and he checks the trunk where he finds the mysterious briefcase. He opens it and is so horrified by what he finds inside that he decides to hide the case somewhere in the garage and then spend the rest of the movie hiding behind cars or around corners from cheesy villain John Savage and his small band of cronies. Why he doesn't just run out of the bottom of the garage is beyond me. If your idea of fun entails watching people in a parking structure for 80 minutes, this will be your new favorite movie. If you are like me and tire quickly of seeing characters run up stairs, then down stairs, then up ramps, and then down ramps, all while listening to the soothing sound of John Savage making generic threats and uttering philosophy about fools then you will likely not make it through this one.

Director Kevin Lewis has wasted my time, that of everyone involved in this film, every video store employee who had to rent it out, and every poor bastard who made the mistake of picking this up. None of the actors seemed to know or care what they are doing and the cinematographer employed a 'point and shoot' method and then ran around once in a while. The editor seemingly had too much coffee during the cutting sessions as the movie is filled with jump cuts and recycled footage that I sometimes felt like I was watching a really shitty version of Run Lola Run. The repetitive techno soundtrack by Antonio Moncada had so much voiceover mixed with the music at times that it sounded like a watered down mid-90's industrial remix album on repeat (especially around the one hour mark). When I say this movie has nothing going for it other than to frustrate the viewer, I mean it. It really annoys me when filmmakers can get away with crap like this.

Poor John Savage had a great start to his career in the late 70's with leading roles in Hair, The Deer Hunter, and The Onion Field and I feel bad that his career has never really taken off. You can tell that he clearly doesn't give a damn in this movie and is strictly doing it to pay the rent. Still, I am giving this one star because although Savage is phoning in his performance, he still has a certain silly charm as he utters almost every generic bad guy catchphrase as the movie progresses. Co-star Sean Young also had a promising start with Blade Runner but she has also been dealt a resume of lame B-movies with the occasional interesting appearance such as in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective or Poor White Trash. She still looks pretty good though. (Josh Pasnak, 2/14/07)

Directed By: Kevin Lewis.
Written By: Troy Scott, Kevin Lewis.

Starring: John Savage, Sean Young, Michael Bondies, Kat Ogden.

Picture Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The transfer was average for this type of thing. It may have been a bit dark at times but then again that could have been the back of my eyelids.

Extras: All the screener contained was a lonely trailer. The retail version contains the same as well as some biographies.

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