Harry Brown

Watched this at a London preview screening

This is an enjoyable, and often tense vigilante film. But don't look for a radical plot line or unpredictable twists because this is simply a straight forward and predictable Death Wish style vigilante story. I'll give absolutely no credit to the screenplay writer for that.

But full marks to the director for turning up the high tensions to make this still an exciting film. Having lived in a council estate myself, I know how frightening some youngsters are and can be more terrifying than the recent flurry of zombie films.

However, this is Michael Caine's show and is a fine addition to the recent surge of old tough guys fighting back movies such as Gran Torino. Caine was brilliant as usual. He makes the most of a pitifully typical script. That is of a widower seeking violent vengeance on the youths who killed his friend. He played it subtle and his vigilante transition was done just right. He isn't turned into some unrealistic slick killing machine or a Rambo. He has typical elderly obstacles such as breathing problems, slow reflexes and old bones but some of his military skills give him a chance. There is a also a sub plot involving a female detective on his trail but it so underwritten, I just didn't care.

The actors playing the youths were very very convincing and help to root for our pensioner hero even more. So it is satisfying to see our legendary cockney actor clean up some really nasty bad guys.

This is a dark film about an underside of living in London. It brings together a variety of people who live in public housing projects called sink estates, and the underworld culture of drugs and crime. Apparently, London has problems with its "social" housing projects and high crime. Pictures on the Internet show the poor conditions of some of the projects. It reminds me of our American experiment with large public housing projects in the 1960s. I saw some of the burned, dilapidated and destroyed public housing projects in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s. They were abandoned buildings less than five years old.

"Harry Brown" centers around a senior whose wife has just died, and a fellow senior. The two friends meet each day to play chess in a neighborhood pub. Both men live in "the estate" complex. We see Harry's apartment, and it looks quite nice. From the exterior, the large apartment building looks fine. But, below and around the complex teens lurk and hang out in gangs, occupying a pedestrian tunnel, doing and dealing drugs, and harassing and intimidating couples, women and children. These young criminals – those we see up close already have juvenile records and more – also live in the estate. We see that their apartments aren't as nice or well kept. Later in the film, we see Leonard's apartment when Harry goes to look over his things. It's been ransacked and burned.

Harry and Len go about their lives in old age and retirement not bothering anyone. But, both have fear of the gangs and hoodlums who have directly taunted and threatened Len. The story involves police efforts to clean up the area, and a young police woman who investigates the murder of Len.

I won't describe the plot further, but just observe that this film is fraught with emotions – from the characters in the film and from our viewing it. We are only human when we are moved with anger at the young thugs. We see their senseless disregard and disrespect for people. It's difficult not to want their civil rights stripped so that the police can round them up and jail them for years. It's apparent to any viewer that that would save lives – many of their own in time, and of countless other innocent victims and bystanders. Detective Inspector Alice Frampton is a check on the righteous indignation of Harry and others who would take the law into their own hands to rid the neighborhood of its scourge. Many of we viewers might be in that group as well. Yet, Frampton is conflicted later by what she sees and experiences.

This is a film to make us think about right and wrong, justice and injustice, security and gang rule and fear. And, the one obvious message that comes across clearly is that a culture of drugs destroys everything good and beautiful and innocent around it.

Michael Caine is excellent as Harry Brown. All the rest of the cast of this film are very good. One must be braced to endure constant vulgarity and crude behavior during much of this movie. In a drug culture such as this, man seems to revert to his most barbaric, primitive self. This isn't entertainment, by any stretch of the imagination. It is a type of film that all people should see from time to time. The vast majority of us living in the western world don't live in conditions or places like this. But, we should know that it exists, and how it must be for innocent people to live in fear most of the time – in free countries. Whether they intended it or not, the producers of this film have given a strong testimonial of support for the war on drugs.

Harry Brown is a pensioner, and former Marine, living in a very run-down apartment complex (or is it flat) in the urban quarter of London. It's a crappy place to be; kids ling their drugs and guns, and beat up those who happen to venture just a little far out into the path. One of those is Harry's friend, Leonard Atwell, who tries to defend himself against the scum on the streets and winds up stabbed with his own knife. Brown is distraught over this (already he's been all alone since his wife just died and a daughter died many years before, perhaps during childbirth or as a child), and knows the cops won't do much about it despite doing some investigations. So, Brown takes his skills as a former Marine, before facing off against the Northern Irish years before, and uses it to exact payback.

Immediately moviegoers will flash to Gran Torino, as a story of a lonely, grumpy old man mixing it up with gang-bangers in a part of town he should have moved out of. But it actually owes more to Taxi Driver in some part- an ex-Marine wiping "the scum off the streets"- and of course Charles Bronson in Death Wish. But as Michael Caine points out in interviews, there was a certain underlying joy Bronson had with his character of Paul Kersey in the Death Wish movies, even in the first one which was most gritty. This film, about the horror of gang violence and drugs and prostitution as an everyday occurrence, really hits the spot far better than the shots of gang-bangers in Eastwood's film. In fact, I would go as far as to say Harry Brown trumps Gran Torino in the department of being about "something" (Torino about racism, Brown about vigilantism).

And at the center of a film directed with an artful, patient eye by newcomer Daniel Barber, and written with wisdom and tough attitude when it needs to be by Gary Young, is Michael Caine's performance. He's so good in a film like this because we believe this is Harry Brown, or what he might be like, and we can see ourselves in a part of Brown due to Caine's sympathy (or even empathy) with the character. This is a man of reserve, but also resolve, and when he takes to the streets it's because it's really a last resort, a kind of fight for survival as well as revenge, and Caine doesn't hold back when Brown needs to shed some tears, or to have that fierceness in his eyes against these young punks. One such scene, which I'll not soon forget, is after he plugs a bullet into the gut of a junkie dumbass who tries to pull a gun on Brown as he's purchasing a few weapons, and tells a story about a fellow officer he was fighting alongside who had to die in the trenches because of a lack of medical care.

It's one of the best scenes I've ever seen with Caine in it, and overall the film provides him the opportunity for another piece of superb work. Less remarkable, though still decent, is Emily Mortimer, who provides some sensitivity but also is a little soft in a way for the character of a no-nonsense detective hot on the heels of the Atwell/young-punks case (in some scenes, frankly, I just didn't buy her as a detective). But this is so small a flaw that it's hard to judge the film against it. Harry Brown takes its subject matter by the throat, treats it cinematically with care, and when it's violent you get shaken up and when Brown is in the shadows one suddenly wonders why Caine didn't play Batman in Nolan's movies. A serious near-classic on street violence and revenge. 9.5/10

I saw this last night and found it a stirring experience. I believe it although aware it was a movie. I'm close to 70 years old and had to take this on board as such. I believe such areas exist and I find it frightening bordering to paranoia. I often hate undue violence and extreme language in cinema, Yet here I did not mind it because I believed this was real. I did not mention anger above, but it certainly was part of my emotion during viewing anger but also hopelessness and helplessness. That right, not everyone is an ex marine or has the character to go through H.B's motion, but we're all exposed to home violent home invasion or other violent event. Perhaps the chance of this happening may equate to winning the lottery, but the media and the 7th art have a filled day with it. Yet it is real and it's a hard task to know if one should bury one's head in the sand and pretend this does not exist or to think one can look after one's self and be able to stand the heat where ever it is. Just as to evaluate if this side of society should be portrayed with positive result or the reverse. I think thugs will always see themselves as heroes in such movies even if they end up with the bad result. As for others they may want the vigilante side of it with possibly dire consequence. Death Wish (I have not seen, and G.Torrino, I have) are mentioned and compared with in many reviews, yes G T did come to my mind too, although for me it was more entertaining than H. B. as I did not feel it to be continuously real. But here I became part of the experience and forgot I was watching a movie. It is also described as being English portrayal. I don't know if this was intended but I certainly don't believe this scene is exclusively English. I'd be surprised if it's not a western world reality and possibly a wide world situation in large urban population, in other words "a jungle rule world" Law and order are becoming increasingly more complex, with so called human right rules, so police efficiency is also increasingly more challenging as the whole scenario is becoming a game where one competitor has to play by the rule and the other just has to win. And victim relatives and Friends are also at odds with perpetrators relatives and friends. I only read, perhaps a dozen of reviews here about Harry Brown and could see it did impact most reviewers. I do agree it is not a perfect movie, with a perfect balance, but I think it perfectly portrays some sad imperfection of our society. It was so good to see Michael Cain acting once more, as for those young people... this was a piece of work too, I hope they, and we always remember it was acting! If you feel like thought provoking entertainment go for it.

Despite Emily Mortimer's ever vapid presence, in no way suited to be convincing as a cop. Michael Caine is masterful as always, film gives him an opportunity to show off his incredible range credibly, from fragile pathos and sorrow to hard unrelenting man in the field you do not want to cross. It's hard to take any satisfaction though in the hunting down and brutalising of miserable wretches at the bottom of the have not pile. Well directed scripted and edited. Love seeing Michael Caine always, he's so damned good nuance by nuance it's spooky.