Review of Harry Brown (2009) by Dan S — 03 Feb 2011

A disappointing, over-the-top "Death Wish"-esque vehicle concerning a codger (Michael Caine) who loses his wife and best friend in a short period of time (the latter murdered by no-good teenagers), and elects to off those responsible as he sees fit.

It is a mystery to me as to why Michael Caine decided to star in this pile of steaming crap - he is too good of an actor to be wasting his talent here. The film's nihilistic nature never for a second feels or looks realistic, and the melodrama that occurs in the last 1/3 of the movie is downright laughable.

It tries to adopt the social commentary that "Gran Torino" skillfully implemented, but it fails miserably seeing the ridiculous violence that takes place in its final 25 minutes makes one frustratingly ponder if director Daniel Barber was really, seriously trying to make a statement on the degrading state humanity is in.

When a film takes such a violent leap from careful character study to insane action located in an apocalyptic wasteland, you are bound to lose some of your viewers. Not only that, this movie features an ending that tries to fool its audience into thinking it is poetic (would Harry really be happy with the way the police handled matters in the end? The film wants you to think so).

I can't help but be a little disgusted by this movie.