Directed by:
Daniel BarberCinematography:
Martin RuheCast:
Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Charlie Creed-Miles, David Bradley, Iain Glen, Sean Harris, Ben Drew, Jack O'Connell, Joe Gilgun, Liam Cunningham (more)VOD (1)
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A modest law-abiding citizen, Harry Brown is a retired Marine and a widower who lives alone on a depressed housing estate. His only company is his best friend Leonard (David Bradley). When Leonard is murdered by a gang of thugs, Harry feels compelled to act and is forced to dispense his own brand of justice. As he bids to clean up the run-down estate where he lives, his actions bring him into conflict with the police, led by investigating officer DCI Frampton (Emily Mortimer) and Charlie Creed-Miles. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (8)
The atmosphere of the British suburbs captured in a truly bravura way. It is true that Gran Torino is more complex, "slicker", and more advanced in terms of filmmaking, but on the other hand, this is British variation doesn’t screw around with anything or anyone, to put it plainly. The raw and gritty atmosphere, the excellent Michael Caine, and a few moments of inner satisfaction (laws and police tribute sometimes aren't enough) are the three main reasons why Harry Brown is worth watching. More impressive than Gran Torino in terms of authenticity and overall appeal – at least for me. 90%
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Elite Squad is widely thought to be a fascist film, but no one will say anything like that about the idea of Harry Brown, because it stars a nice pensioner with the face of the beloved Michael Caine. Otherwise, the films are similar in many ways – in the reenactment of criminal scum as a primitive tribe, in offering an easy solution, and in a certain clarity of vision of the world (a fair marine vs. the scum). I didn't mind it when it comes to Padilha, and I don't mind it when it comes to Barber - I'm under no illusions that the situation is any better in selected English housing estates. Otherwise, Harry Brown didn't do much for me. The social tone is rather untrustworthy (I thought it was too arranged), Barber didn't get an impressive performance from Cain, and the script is very clichéd, although he tries to disguise it as the realism of the environment... Overall, I didn't understand what it was supposed to be – a social drama or an unconventional thriller? Eastwood did it a notch more convincingly, although some of the scenes in Barber's film got under my skin. But not too deep.
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This is almost better than Gran Torino. The opening scene on the motorbike is the best filmed scene this year, Caine is more uncompromising than anybody I have seen recently and for seventy minutes this really is a five-star movie. But then it starts to go wrong and the finale in the pub totally wrecks it. If it had remained on the “modest level" of pensioner versus local youth in front of a tenement block, I would have been much more content in the end. P.S.: Comparison with Gran Torino is essential, like it or not. Although in the end they are completely different genres, Eastwood worked and relied on the premise that everybody expected precisely what they get here from Harry Brown.
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The street brawls are a bit too wild and out of touch with reality, but those British gangs and rowdy youths are evil, and Daniel Barber manages to capture it quite atmospherically and believably in the smaller passages. Michael Caine doesn't fail either, appearing on the surface more affable than the morose Clint Eastwood, but either one or the other suits the viewer. They aren’t bad, but the explicit and uncompromising violence is more entertaining, and its highlight is the terrific scene in the drug den, which is downright chilling, well shot and acted. Too bad about the overacting characterful policewoman and the sentimentality, but it's bearable, and it does say said what it wanted to say.
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A superb film that will be enjoyed (especially) by fans of Michael Caine, the typically dense atmosphere of British films and the emotions of people who find themselves in hopeless situations against their will. All delivered in a fantastic visual package with perfect music. The best scene: the junkies’ den. Five stars.
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