Harry Brown Review

Directed by	Daniel Barber
Produced by	Matthew Vaughn Kris Thykier Matthew Brown Keith Bell
Written by	Gary Young
Starring	Michael Caine Emily Mortimer Ben Drew Charlie Creed-Miles David Bradley Jack O'Connell and Liam Cunningham

To view the trailer; HARRY BROWN (FULL TRAILER)


Former British marine, now pensioner, Harry Brown (Caine), resides in the projects of outer-London. A suburb entrenched in brutal teenage gang & drug warfare, lawless violence, and a youth revolution that is disputed by none - left to fester in the aftermath of heroine hits, rape, and bloody beat-downs. 
A widower, Brown, pisses away his time observing the modern world from his local, dilapidated pub. A world where brutality is a past-time and packing-heat just adds another inch to your dick. But when the gang viciously, stabs, pisses, and beats there way into Harry's chess match - civil Harry, turns just a little dirty. 


***plot spoiler - wouldn't read on if you... really, (*repeat for effect) really, want to see it. 


Let's not skip around the obvious, this is undeniably a British version of Clint Eastwood's, Gran Torino. A retired, medal soldier and ex-militant, cleans up the streets of their local dive, inevitably taking the bullet for 'the modern day' in the final acts. Their last, 'stand of glory', so to speak. Though what does this say about the modern day world? That we see violence as a means of pastime? As opposed to war, violence through honour, grandeur, and backed by the belief that you're fighting for your country. I couldn't help but revert to the quote from Franklin J. Schaffner's 'Patton' (1970) whilst thinking about this.


"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."


Thus alluding to the fact, possibly director Daniel Barber conceived the notion; War, that was once fought on the great battlefields of the past, has regressed to the slums & ghettos of our cities - what dumb bastard would die for that? 


Michael Caine is superbly cast for his role, with Emily Mortimer supporting as the appointed detective investigating the murders within the projects. Mortimer, though also giving an outstanding performance, seems lost within her character, D.I Alice Frampton. There is something overly intriguing about her, but Barber does not once detail her past; why a woman of her statue would purposely ask to investigate the slums, why she has such a fascination with Harry, and her motive for 'cleaning up the slums', one example of useless 'character development' among many. 


It seems the use of squibs in film making, is about as archaic as a bayonet in modern warfare. The post FX blood shot squirts, stab sprays (really anything to do with blood) was highly disappointing. This seems to be the case with many films made in 2009; let's skip out on the money here, as the audience surely won't notice the split second of digital add-in blood, that looks as bad as it did in Duke Nukem back on Windows 95. It is truly a shame that this is the case, and hopefully films currently in production are altering this paradigm, or else I just may continue to whine. 


Ultimately, Harry Brown, is a well-made British slum film - leaving you wanting to avoid tunnels, gangs of youths, and walking alone at night, down that one street you always avoid (unless you're packing some serious firepower). Go on, jump down the rabbit hole - check it out! 


Benjamin.