Harry Brown

3.0

0.0 (0)

In Harry Brown, we have one of the most confrontational films triplew.me has seen on a cinema screen for a long time, compounded by the gritty opening scene of a gang initiation that ends in two deaths. Harry Brown is Michael Caine’s best performance in a film for a long time, it is the strength of his leading role that makes this film work so well.

Caine plays Harry Brown, a veteran of Northern Ireland campaigns and now a widower living in a public housing estate in Elephant and Castle in London that has been overrun by delinquent youth, causing Harry, and his old friend Leonard to not feel safe in their own homes.

After the murder of his friend, Harry begins a campaign of retribution and vigilante justice that only an ex-Marine who is an expert in counter-terrorism can undertake.  Through the chaos, Harry, who no longer believes in the effectiveness of the police, takes some brutal justice out on many of the youth that had terrorized him for so long.

And, in our opinion, that’s the most confronting part of the film. It seems to be a celebration of vigilante crime-fighting and the corporatization of the police, sending a very mixed message. Some very strong drug use and violence add to the gritty nature of Barber’s shoot, but the question remains, what is necessary in this film to get the message across. But Caine still does look good with a jacket and pistol...see picture.

Caine’s performance is brilliant, and it’s definitely one of the best British films that we’ve seen in a long time, but, there seems to be a very confusing message in this film and one that doesn’t sit too well after leaving the cinema. It is a good story, however, and one that must be applauded, because no matter the context, the issues of generational confrontation face all societies, not just the British.

WATCH IT FOR

The gritty realism of Caine’s performance – what career twilight?

MISS IT FOR

The confusing moral message that this film sends, and if excessive hard drug use and violence puts you off your dinner…

Watch the trailer

Editor review

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