Powerful

Just what I expected

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I recently learned that I had a severe lack of films viewed in which Michael Caine had a lead role. Harry Brown was certainly a film I could watch to begin to fill that void. Harry Brown was the 2009 film directed by Daniel Barber stars Michael Caine in the titular role seeking vengeance for the murder of his best friend. Having rarely seen Michael Caine in any film previously, seeing a gun-toting Michael Caine was quite a sight to behold. A fairly standard vigilante story was made engaging and interesting due to a wonderful performance by Caine.Harry Brown (Michael Caine) is no stranger to tragedy. Living life as a widower in England, Brown sees violence everywhere, including right outside his window. Harry loses his wife, who had been terminally ill shortly after the audience is introduced to him. Brown's only friend left is Leonard Attwell (David Bradley) with whom he enjoys a daily chess game. One afternoon, Leonard confesses to Harry that he is so afraid of the increase of violent acts in the area in which they live that he has decided to carry a bayonet to defend himself. Harry insists that Leonard should go to the police, but Leonard refuses. Shortly after this exchange, Leonard is beaten and stabbed to death with his own weapon. When a couple inspectors come to deliver the news to Harry, he is grief-stricken and completely devastated to lose his only friend left in the world. Knowing that even if the criminals are found and brought to trial, it would be ruled as self-defense because the knife belonged to the victim. Given such a bleak outcome, Harry decides he has had enough of being a victim of tragedy and decides to take matters into his own hands.Technically, Harry Brown had a lot going for it. There were some fantastic cuts that were useful in developing Brown's life at home, illustrating the ways in which he has become used to the violence surrounding him. There was also a fantastic juxtaposition in which we see Harry as the only one in attendance at his best friends funeral while we see a line of cars travel obstructing the audience's view of Harry. This scene was pivotal in establishing the true isolation of Caine's Brown. Thematically, Harry Brown falters a bit. For starters, the audience witnesses too much tragedy all at once in Harry's life. We really don't need to see so many tragedies occurring to drive home the notion that Harry Brown has endured much heartache in his life. A lazy filmmaking tool is showing rather than telling, and the beginning of Harry Brown is all show and no tell. The vigilante justice theme is also one that comes off nearly unavoidably formulaic. For instance, in a vigilante tale, you'll almost always have predicted action, one cop who half-heartedly goes after the vigilant and another beholden to law and order that wants to find the vigilant despite the fact that they are eliminating the bad parts of society--each of these aspects are present in Harry Brown. Harry Brown would undoubtedly be a film that no one would ever speak of, lost to the annals of cinema had it not been for the brilliant performance of Michael Caine. You know that people like Harry exist. There are people all over the world who have one friend in their life who look forward to a daily chess game, and you know this because of how Michael Caine translates the role. I want to learn to play chess, just so I can meet Harry every day so that he has someone to talk to, and is not alone. Michael Caine"s brilliantly emotional performance keeps Harry Brown from fading into obscurity and presents a true masterclass in acting.

I remember watching films like Dirty Harry and Death Wish in the 1970s and thinking that America must be a seriously messed up place to produce violence like this. England at the time was still a fairly genteel place, although crime was massively on the rise. Sadly, some 40 years on, I wish I could say that this film is a ludicrous over the top version of Modern Britain, but, from my own experience, I don't think it is.Therefore, politically, I think the film is bang on. However, aesthetically it is rather lacking.Only one sequence stands out as a striking cinematic vision. This is when Harry Brown visits a couple of coked up gun dealers. He enters a subterranean world, a little bit of hell on earth and part of the power of this sequence is that the dealers are too drugged up to realise the level of degradation about them. This section is extremely well shot and acted by all concerned.The other parts of this fail to approach this level. Much of the film looks like it could have been made for TV. True, the scenes of the 'youths' being interrogated are energetic and realistically written with four letter words in every sentence, but generally the police scenes are rather dull and empty. The caring female PC and her officious male superior are too cliché ridden (and politically correct) to be effective. The writing of these characters just seems to be going through the motions.The final bloody shoot-out again fails to convict, while the conclusion just has a dangling unfinished feel.

"Harry Brown," a feature film debut from the director Daniel Barber gets to introduces us to a man at his wits' end, a man who doesn't know what happened to the world he used to know — and very determined to take action, however violent and bloody. And while the movie at times loses credibility (this "vigilante pensioner" seems to have many extra lives) and isn't easy to watch, it haunts the viewer with its details of life under siege. But at the center of this extremely violent revenge drama — almost a Western movie, ending up with a saloon shooting — is something quiet: two delicate, heartfelt performances matching each other, Emily Mortimer and Caine, master of gentle sadness.

If taken as a bit of fantasy fun loosely based on what are proportionately very rare events in London - then all good and well. However, when viewed by fantasists as an accurate representation of life in London then, not so good.It's just a concentration of the worst bits of London life strung together for entertainment purposes. I was born in London and have lived across its roughest bits and the vast majority of my elderly British neighbours, despite a bit of recreational moaning which we all enjoy, for the best part live happily alongside their neighbours, young and old and of all races. Most have had and still have the option to move out to live with family but they love where they live so much they don't want to.Of course London has crime, always has done. And in Michael Caine's day murderers and torturers were some of the most revered and 'respected' people in the community - and no they didn't just hurt their own - it was anyone who they took a dislike to.The film's not worth the electricity used to display it on an an LED TV in eco mode.