Harry Brown (2010)

So much average

Memorable, crazy movie

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I recently learned that I had a severe lack of films viewed in which Michael Caine had a lead role. Harry Brown was certainly a film I could watch to begin to fill that void. Harry Brown was the 2009 film directed by Daniel Barber stars Michael Caine in the titular role seeking vengeance for the murder of his best friend. Having rarely seen Michael Caine in any film previously, seeing a gun-toting Michael Caine was quite a sight to behold. A fairly standard vigilante story was made engaging and interesting due to a wonderful performance by Caine.Harry Brown (Michael Caine) is no stranger to tragedy. Living life as a widower in England, Brown sees violence everywhere, including right outside his window. Harry loses his wife, who had been terminally ill shortly after the audience is introduced to him. Brown's only friend left is Leonard Attwell (David Bradley) with whom he enjoys a daily chess game. One afternoon, Leonard confesses to Harry that he is so afraid of the increase of violent acts in the area in which they live that he has decided to carry a bayonet to defend himself. Harry insists that Leonard should go to the police, but Leonard refuses. Shortly after this exchange, Leonard is beaten and stabbed to death with his own weapon. When a couple inspectors come to deliver the news to Harry, he is grief-stricken and completely devastated to lose his only friend left in the world. Knowing that even if the criminals are found and brought to trial, it would be ruled as self-defense because the knife belonged to the victim. Given such a bleak outcome, Harry decides he has had enough of being a victim of tragedy and decides to take matters into his own hands.Technically, Harry Brown had a lot going for it. There were some fantastic cuts that were useful in developing Brown's life at home, illustrating the ways in which he has become used to the violence surrounding him. There was also a fantastic juxtaposition in which we see Harry as the only one in attendance at his best friends funeral while we see a line of cars travel obstructing the audience's view of Harry. This scene was pivotal in establishing the true isolation of Caine's Brown. Thematically, Harry Brown falters a bit. For starters, the audience witnesses too much tragedy all at once in Harry's life. We really don't need to see so many tragedies occurring to drive home the notion that Harry Brown has endured much heartache in his life. A lazy filmmaking tool is showing rather than telling, and the beginning of Harry Brown is all show and no tell. The vigilante justice theme is also one that comes off nearly unavoidably formulaic. For instance, in a vigilante tale, you'll almost always have predicted action, one cop who half-heartedly goes after the vigilant and another beholden to law and order that wants to find the vigilant despite the fact that they are eliminating the bad parts of society--each of these aspects are present in Harry Brown. Harry Brown would undoubtedly be a film that no one would ever speak of, lost to the annals of cinema had it not been for the brilliant performance of Michael Caine. You know that people like Harry exist. There are people all over the world who have one friend in their life who look forward to a daily chess game, and you know this because of how Michael Caine translates the role. I want to learn to play chess, just so I can meet Harry every day so that he has someone to talk to, and is not alone. Michael Caine"s brilliantly emotional performance keeps Harry Brown from fading into obscurity and presents a true masterclass in acting.

This is a pretty straightforward revenge elements, except for the fact that it deals with a aging ex marine that has nothing much to live for. The concept of how it shows the perspective and grief from old people that gets kicked around and abused by young juvenile delinquents. Usually it's the old middle aged men that does wrong to society. And I do believe in most cases they do inflict pain onto other, except by taking advantage of the system or doing things underhanded through manipulation. Maybe because of mid-life crisis, selfishness, gave up on the world or just because power can corrupt. However even youngsters are capable of committing horrendous crime and inflict suffering onto others just for the heck of it. Michael Caine really brings about a believable performance while portraying a character that feels washed up and doesn't have much to go on. And when a friend gets killed by a group of delinquents or hooligans he is out for revenge. This is not like any of the "Taken" movie where he has all the tools to take down the bad guys. His age catches up to him and you as the audience can see the mistakes he makes because he isn't as agile as he use to be. So I give this movie credit for showing the other side of the coin to be somewhat different from other revenge/crime movies. This one really delves into a man's inner turmoil and how age is insignificant when it comes to having a heart and just about everyone has emotional scars they have to deal with. It isn't a film I would see again, but it's not a bad movie to sit through if it came on TV. What made this film at leas somewhat stand out to me is the gritty and nasty atmosphere that takes place in London.6.5/10

Ex Royal Marine Harry spends his life between hospital, where his wife is terminally ill, and playing chess with his only friend Len, in the local pub. After the death of his wife, Len tells Harry that the local gang is harassing him and he is carrying a bayonet for self-defence, Harry tries to reason with him, and suggests he go to the police. When Len is stabbed to death in an underpass, and the police can only stand back and watch due to orders from above, Harry decides to take matters into his own hands....Its a grimy film to watch, and if you've ever lived, or known anyone who has lived on a council estate, for the majority of the film, it's pretty realistic stuff, and just how brilliant is it that Caine agreed to be in this, there really is no other choice.It could have been so easy for the film to go down the B-movie, action path, but the makers keep it just on the right side of plausible, and the slow, yet tense, build up, only makes the payoff all the more satisfying.But, it's a little silly in places, a hospital would never get rid of a deceased person that quickly, all the more so when a relative is on their way, CG blood is a little over the top and feels out of place in a film like this, and the ending feels a little too Hollywood for me.But Drew is fantastic here as the hoodlum, his character oozes attitude and angst, and you can really feel the hate for his character, not because he's so different from anyone else in the gang, it's because you know there are dozens of people like that, who speak in a faux gangsta' accent, walking abhorrently, trying to be street.These sort of people are a parasite to society, and here they are depicted that way, as parasites.The film makers message is slammed down our throat a little too much toward the end, but Caine more than makes up for the film shortcomings, his coolness throughout the film shows that he calm and collected, he truly makes the film.

This is the known story of a man become into vigilante . An elderly ex-serviceman and widower , Harry Brown , (Michael Caine) looks to avenge his best friend (David Bradley)'s murder by doling out his own form of justice . As a retired man turned vigilante and taking the law into his own hands as judge , jury and executioner. As every man has a breaking point . Harry turns the one-man vigilante when his friend is attacked , beaten and then stabbed to death in an underground passage carried out by furious band formed by some ominous punks . Then he stalks the slums of London and takes the law into his own hands, searching vengeance on crooks, hoodlums, druggies , muggers, pimps , making the neighborhood safer and bumping off delinquents and street scum . Meanwhile , police officers D.I. Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer) and D.S. Terry Hicock (Charlie Creed-Miles) are investigating the deeds and Police Superintendent Childs (Iain Glen) orders a major arrest operation believing the recent violence is related to a gang war. The late-night raids on the neighbourhood result in a massive riot .This interesting picture has suspense , emotion , intrigue , thrills and lots of violence . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Harry Brown's side . Michael Caine with his usual top-notch acting displays efficiently his weapon such as ¨Harry the Dirty¨ and killing mercilessly nasties . Michael Caine saw a lot of himself in the character of Harry Brown, e.g. they're both combat veterans , as Harry is a Marine who served in Northern Ireland, Caine served in the British Army during the Korean war , and Caine lived in the same area that Brown does , it was things like these that drew him to the film . Secondary cast is frankly excellent such as Emily Mortimer , Charlie Creed-Miles , David Bradley , Iain Glen , Sean Harris, Ben Drew and special mention to Liam Cunningham as Sid Rourke . This is Daniel Barber's nice feature debut , he's now shooting ¨The keeping room¨ with Hailee Steinfeld , Sam Worthington and Brit Marling .This exciting and above average film belong to ¨Vigilante genre¨ whose main representations are ¨Charles Bronson's Death Wish¨ , successful crime thriller that created the Vigilante genre with Bronson as the main star such as ¨Death wish II¨ ¨Death wish III¨ , ¨Death Wish 4 : The crackdown¨and ¨Death Wish: The face of death¨ and , of course , ¨Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry¨ movies , such as ¨The enforcers¨, ¨Sudden impact¨ and ¨The dead pool¨ . Furthermore , other notorious movies on the ¨Revenger¨ genre that achieved their splendor in the eighties are the followings : ¨Exterminator¨ I and II with Robert Ginty ; ¨Vigilante¨ by William Lusting with Robert Foster , Fred Williamson ; ¨Walking the edge¨ by Norbert Meisel with Robert Foster and Nancy Kwan ; ¨Dark Angel¨ with Betty Russell ; ¨Steele Justice¨ with Martin Kove ¨; ¨The Punisher¨ with Dolph Lundgren , ¨Joe Don Baker's Walking tall¨ saga ; ¨Lorenzo Lamas's Snake eater¨ saga , ¨Arnold's Raw Deal¨ , ¨Stallone's Cobra¨ and many others .