Review of Harry Brown (2009) by Stevenf — 06 Oct 2013

Here we have a film that shares similarities with the excellent 'Gran Torino' where we seen Clint Eastwood take a stand against the thugs and random acts of violence in his town, Michael Caine is the focused and emotional pensioner in this film who takes the law into his own hands after it fails the one friend he had, he is Harry Brown, and he now wants to put a stop to the hooded youths who terrorise his estate.

The admirable aspect of Caines performance is his ability to control his character throughout the film, he doesn't conform to a bloodthirsty animal seeking justice, he shows his age but uses it to his advantage to cut a more rugged and emotionally-driven man, Caine never acts out or completely changes what is or isn't moral, he simply has bottled up fear and anger which now surfaces in mighty swoosh, he has stood by too long and watched as many of his neighbours are beaten, harassed and sometimes murdered by the violent criminals who have taken over, his friend makes the mistake of confronting these people and ends up losing his life, but the last straw for Harry is when the case against those who are believed to have committed the crime, nay get away with a manslaughter charge instead of murder because of the weapon Harry's friend, Len (David Bradley) was carrying.

The film takes a smart and character driven approach as Harry is an easily approachable man who seemingly just wants a quiet life to grieve for his wife, but the gang, led by actor/rapper Ben Drew/Plan B will not let anyone rest, this involves some very graphic content throughout the film, at its highest effectiveness when shown as a form of mobile phone footage.

A scene where he attempts to buy a gun from two crazed drug dealers, where he sees a helpless woman off her head, we then see the ex-marine that we have heard about throughout the film. On the tail of Harry is detective Frampton (Emily Mortimer) who feels sympathy and cuts a very weary and fed up individual, but she won't let a vigilante do her job for her.

She can see who may be responsible but can't do much about it at that moment. We then see a third act unfold which takes a realistic approach, the police get involved which erupts into a messy riot, but this has relatable tendencies and doesn't turn into a blockbuster showdown, the film keeps playing its cards close to the chest right until the credits role, we get a good sense if closure but not that of complete eradication, this highlights the real problem of crime, dramatised in the film for effect of course, but outlines a real problem of always being scared.