Harry Brown (Theatrical – 2009)

Theatrical Poster

Although it can be said that the Vigilante movie has never really gone away there has been somewhat of a revival of late, especially in mainstream cinema. Recent flicks such as The Brave One, Death Sentence and Law Abiding Citizen to name but a few have hit the big screen to varying degrees of success. Even Clint Eastwood struck gold with the excellent Gran Torino, nailing grizzly old bastard down to perfection.

So I must admit that I was just a little excited when I saw the previews for Harry Brown, which stars Michael Caine in the title role. The excitement for me was two-fold, firstly because I do love a good vigilante movie and secondly I was happy to see Caine get his teeth stuck into something a little more juicy after seeing him mainly play supporting roles of late. He may be pushing 80 but this man was, and is, a lead actor. Mind you, he might just be taking it easy in his later years. Not that you would guess it after seeing him in Harry Brown.

Harry Brown doesn’t have all that much to live for, with his wife in hospital and his best friend lives in constant fear. To top things off he lives in a rundown housing estate where drug dealing thugs rule the roost. This is not a nice place to live with residents being intimidated and attacked on a daily basis, with the police seemingly ineffective. Harry tries to turn a blind eye to all this, he’s seen his fair share of conflict in his life, but one attack pushes the old boy over the limit.

The story itself is a staple of many movies of this style, there’s really nothing new in that department. Where it shines though is in its execution. You really get a sense of the fear and hopelessness that living in this situation would bring. Harry Brown is a bleak and gloomy affair, and so it should be. There’s no glamorization of the violence, of which there is plenty, and no sense of invincibility for the vigilante as is often the case. Harry Brown is a broken man and Caine portrays this wonderfully, after all this is his show. The supporting cast all play up their roles well, especially the youngsters who play the tormentors, one of which is Jack O’Connell who you might remember playing another right little bastard in the terrific Eden Lake. In this movie though he is not the worst of the thugs, there are some seriously nasty bastards in this.

If I had any complaints about this movie it would be that some of the blood that is shed on screen looks a little too computer generated for my liking. That’s me really nit-picking though as everything from the score to the cinematography to the pacing is pretty much spot on here. Harry Brown starts bleakly, slowly builds up the tension and atmosphere and never lets up.

This movie was a real treat to watch and can be added to a growing list of great recent movies that hail from my old stomping ground England.