Friday, September 20, 2013

Harry Brown

Harry Brown is a 2009 revenge film starring Michael Caine as a man who decides to take action against the thugs who have taken over his neighborhood. And he does. Like all Michael Caine films, this one is worth seeing, but I think you need to like Caine. Of course, who doesn't!

via Crackle:


From Crackle: Harry Brown

Empire Online gives it 4 out of 5 stars and concludes with this: "Verdict: Essential stuff, even by the big man’s considerable standards." Time Out gives it 2 out of 5 stars and comments on "the sick ideology of the film, in which ill-informed pessimism is bolstered by childish ideas of revenge." TwitchFilm says, "Harry Brown has two big trump cards to bust itself out of the cluttered subgenre: The iconic Michael Caine giving a knock-out performance, and an overall dizzying sense of style -This may be the most craft-level handsome revenge movie ever made." Slant Magazine gves it just 1 star out of 4 and closes by saying,
The war abroad has escaped from the confines of the news and into what could be but likely isn't your backyard (when was the last time the target audience for Harry Brown was anywhere remotely near a project complex?) and nobody can stop it but an old man with a gun and a warped sense of ethics. God help us all.
The Guardian gives it 3 out of 5 stars and says it's "a tremendous role for Caine". Roger Ebert praises Caine and says, "We are all so desperately weary of CGI that replaces drama. With movies like this, humans creep back into crime stories." Rotten Tomatoes critics give it 64%.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, I saw this some time ago. I cheered when the old guy put up a fight; it had that underdog-takes-revenge feel to it, like a nerd-is-bitten-by-insect-and-gets-superpowers-and-bitchslaps-his-bulliers movie, that everyone likes who ever wished they could stand their ground more successfully (and who hasn´t?), I thought. But way, way darker, and much more real. And, as you say, who does not like Michael Caine?

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    1. i agree. it is satisfying when the "little guy" hands it to the bad guys.

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