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Posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 19:44:13 GMT by: projectcyclops
Posted under: review thriller festival revenge British

Year: 2009
Directors: Daniel Barber
Writers: Gary Young
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: projectcyclops
Rating: 7 out of 10

Michael Caine stars as the titular character in Daniel Barber’s fast paced and slick revenge flick, which is centered on the equally awesome and ridiculous premise of an old age pensioner who takes justice into his own hands on a rough London council estate. The film begins with a very brutal hand-held camera introduction of a gang initiation, in which a youth is forced to take crack and then shoot a young mother in a park, before crashing his scooter, and dying horribly – setting the scene for the deeply unpleasant and dangerous world we’re about to enter.

Harry lives on the estate, visiting his comatose wife daily, but having to detour around the dark underpass that leads to the hospital for fear of the gang of kids who hang around and cause trouble. After checking with the doctor that there’s no change to poor Kath’s health, Harry has a few pints in the local bar with his mate Len and they play a civilized game of chess, and are appalled when some wide-boys openly deal drugs in the corner. As the days pass, Harry sees more and more savagery and atrocious violence, until one act of murder on the estate leads him to question the police force’s ability to make any difference; and he follows a drugged-up petty arms dealer back to his gaff with the plan to buy himself a gun, and dish out his own brand of old-man justice. Anyone who doesn’t think this is a kick-ass concept for a Michael Caine film, leave now.

Concept is cool, and Barber does craft a very stylish and good looking thriller which, for better or for worse, does exactly what it says on the tin. Through extreme-close-ups of Caine’s withered features and scowling jowls, we feel Harry’s pain, and it’s satisfying and shocking to see him attacking those who would torment him and his, but the film does not offer any real revelations and merely plays out the scenario as one would picture it their head. He fights, sweats, shoots and swears his way through 90 minutes of pretty intense violence and old-school justice, which has earned it a five-star review from The Daily Mail, but for me is just a little too obvious and crass. Emily Mortimer is completely wasted as a police detective who assigns herself to the estate to investigate the vigilantly killings, and although she takes a shine to Harry Brown, her character is so underwritten and pathetic that I almost forgot it was the same actress who so impressed in Match Point. Caine himself actually gives a rather game performance, although I sensed in a few scenes that his heart really wasn’t in it. A role like Harry Brown requires one-hundred percent conviction, something old Michael just wasn’t giving.

The film ends with an impressively shot pitched battle between riot police and estate denizens and while it was fun to watch, it didn’t really amount to anything other than background noise to the dénouement. I fear this film will be embraced by the lager swigging Danny Dyer fans and Nick Love enthusiasts and (this has already happened) be touted as the ‘Best British film of the year!’, when it’s anything but (‘Fish Tank’ is). It’s a fun revenge flick to be sure, with decent suspense and cool action set-pieces, but there’s no soul, only a predictable story with melodramatic overtones.

In summery then? If you want to see one of England’s most enduring actors kicking ass and blasting young punks Death Wish style, this is a great film – but to suggest it’s anything other than a fun distraction is nonsense.

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