Harry Brown

For the most part I was pretty impressed with this movie. Unlike a lot of films of it's ilk, the bad guys are actually quite believable and the setting is sadly realistic. Michael Caine suits this particular role very well and carries the story through some rather slow-paced dour scenes.

Unfortunately there is one rather ridiculous scene that undermines the entire credibility of the story. Harry's encounter with the local drug dealer/arms dealer/rapist/pimp/crackhead is completely over the top and feels like something out of a Tarantino movie. I have no idea why this was even included as it adds virtually nothing to the overall story and takes the gloss off an otherwise excellent production.

Daniel Barber, so far I have never heard of this director which is normal, this is his first major flick. And what a great movie this is. it's a revenge flick but as real and brutal as it can get. It's funny that I as a horror geek was recommended Harry Brown. But I didn't regret it watching it and I must even say that I got goosebumps by some scene's. And people who know me do know that I can take the goriest pieces without a problem. But again, it is really the reality and the brutality that makes the movie and of course Sir Michael Caine. Admit it, he always has something macabre over him but he's now in his 70's (°1933)and still can deliver the creeps. His acting is surely an Oscar worthy. But also worth mentioning is Sean Harris. he really is believable, in fact all hoodies are believable and of course the language used and the dialect gives it also its reality. This is an all points an excellent movie. Not in Rambo or Arnie style with a lot of shooting but just a straight in your face flick, big thumbs up to the director, Sir Caine and the whole bunch involved.

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.

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 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 .