[Movie 295 / Day 313]
Harry Brown (Michael Caine) is an OAP living in a flat on a working-class estate somewhere in London. He, like most of the other residents, is terrorised by the local gang of youths that spend their days selling (and taking) drugs and committing various offences, usually violent. The situation has become so bad that he actively avoids walking through an underpass where the gang ply their trade, preferring to take the long way around to avoid conflict. His beloved wife has recently died, leaving him all alone – apart from his best friend Leonard, with whom he plays a daily game of chess in their local boozer.
Unfortunately, Leonard is terribly bullied by the gangs, who have taken it upon themselves to make his life a living hell. One night, after his complaints to the police seem to have fallen on deaf ears, he tries to take matters into his own hands and confronts the gang; with dire consequences.
The next day, Harry is at home when the police come knocking to inform him that Leonard has been killed. As you’d expect, Harry is distraught at the loss, and when the police prove unable to bring Leonard’s killers to justice, despite everyone knowing who they are, he decides to do exactly the same thing that proved fatal for his only friend: turn vigilante. Fortunately for Harry, he is a highly-decorated ex-Marine, and although he’s in his twilight years, is still pretty handy. Cue a killing spree as he mops up the estate while the police try to figure out who the vigilante is.
While it’s a violent movie, it doesn’t quite have the body count of the DEATH WISH series, for example – but, unlike Charles Bronson’s vigilante, who is able to turn on the violence like a blood-spewing tap, Harry is an old man and has many of the problems associated with old age; he can’t chase down criminals like he’s in the first flush of youth, he tries and ends up coughing and spluttering.
While it is violent, it’s not a patch on some recent films; and HARRY BROWN is firmly rooted in reality and has a gritty, bleak feel to it – that realistic tone heightened by the slow-burn start and concentrating on lots of little, everyday things – Harry’s morning cup of tea, a dripping tap, his jam on toast… It all serves to make the violence, when it does come, seem much more shocking than the cartoon-like red fountains seen in many movies.
It’s a good movie, although the realism and muted palette leave it feeling pretty grim. At times tense, at times poignant, you really emphasise with Harry as he takes it upon himself to clean up his estate. You also can’t help feeling a little glimmer of satisfaction with each hoody-clad chav that is removed from the gene pool.
However, having said all of that, it is also a flawed movie – although Michael Caine is excellent as the aged vigilante, some of the other characters feel underused, especially Emily Mortimer’s policewoman DI Frampton; while first-time director Daniel Barber seems to revel in portraying the police as incompetent, more interested in setting up task-forces than actually catching criminals. The movie also suffers from pace. Yes, it’s a slow-burner, but with the vast majority of screen time given over to Caine, there is very little time given to developing the other characters. Unfortunately, this leaves some of them as cardboard cut-outs; especially the troubled youths who are given little to no backstory at all. Instead of giving us some reasoning into why these kids find such pleasure in destructive activities, we’re left with an unsatisfactory one-line explanation – i.e., they’re all animals.
Overall though, HARRY BROWN is a straightforward vigilante movie that hangs together quite well, even if it’s not the best swansong Caine could have had. He has said this will be his last role as a leading man – and if that’s true, he’ll be missed.
HARRY BROWN opens tomorrow, November 11th, in cinemas everywhere.
My Rating: 
[ IMDB rating: 8.5 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 103 mins ]
