The premise of Harry Brown is a very simple one which follows the basic principles of a vigilante film. Michael Caine plays the titular Harry Brown whose wife passes away of natural causes... the only person he has left is his best friend who is being tormented by a gang of London youths (based on The Elephant and Castle) in his area of town. Taking matters into his own hands Harry Brown's best friend tries to take out the gang himself, to alleviate his problems only to be brutally murdered. Harry Brown, then with nothing to lose, goes out to avenge his best friend's death in what becomes a very bloody and fun ride for the audience. Meanwhile a police detective, played by Emily Mortimer, is trying to solve the murder of Brown's best friend and finds herself investigating the actions of Harry Brown himself.
Harry Brown is nearly perfect in its execution. Michael Caine is brilliant and it was a shame to see his acting passed over for both BAFTA's and the Oscar's in what could possibly be his best performance to date. I may have just spoken to soon though as there has been no actual theatre release in North America; I believe it's actual scheduled release is in March of 2010; but I could be wrong. Aside from Michael Caine who delivers each line with a crisp sense of emotion that draws the audience in, wanting more, Emily Mortimer provides much more than her lack-lustre performance as Rachel Solando in this month's Shutter Island.
While this movie's content draws on fears of the public; despite crime statistics actually being down; the content still manages to deliver and provides an ending that is truly satisfactory to its deliverance. This movie was the perfect length as well; any longer and I would have started to get antsy, wanting it to be done, thinking about how they could have just done everything they needed to in 100 minutes, or it could have been too short leaving unanswered questions. The 100 minute length felt perfect for this film providing the right level of intrigue, drama and suspense and not leaving us feeling winded as if we had just run a marathon.
This is director Daniel Barber's first time behind the camera for a feature and it felt refreshing. There were no expectations from him as a first time director; and he set a bar for himself that I hope he is able to attain and maybe even surpass again at some point; because it's exciting to think about what this novice director can do if Harry Brown proves to be only a launching pad. Harry Brown was penned by veteran writer Gary Young who also penned this year's straight-to-DVD 'action-bore' The Tournament. So when I realized it was Young fiddling around with Final Draft I was a little worried about how the movie's dialogue would sound; yet in comparison to the flop that was The Tournament Harry Brown's script is a masterpiece.
This movie was a lot of fun to watch; yet it maintained a serious edge to it. As much as I loved what Kevin Bacon was able to do in Death Sentence and how Clint Eastwood handled his own problems in Gran Torino Michael Caine may be my new vigilante hero.
Once this movie hits theatres it is a must-see!
4 out of 5 stars!
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