Harry Brown

The film starts off with footage of a teenager on a scooter as he confronts a young mum and shoots her dead, and then a gang forcing one teenager to get high on drugs. It’s horrible stuff, but there must be a good reason for it, surely? We are brought to the flat of older gentleman Harry Brown, played by Michael Caine. He is currently distraught about his poor wife Kathleen, who is on a life support machine and can’t even acknowledge him when he visits her. Worrying about his life is the last thing that Harry needs, and everything comes at once for him when he rushes to hospital to find out his wife has died.

As Harry walks home late one evening a few weeks later a young teenage boy jumps out and threatens him with a small knife. We are then shown that Harry may be old but he still knows how to take care of himself when he reaches into his coat and pulls out a huge knife to protect himself. After his only friend, Len (David Bradley), is killed by a gang Harry rediscovers a part of himself; having once been in the Royal Marines. When the police refuse to help him catch the gang he embarks on a revenge campaign to find them by going into the underworld to find the teenager who killed Len.

In his debut director Daniel Barber tries to get the audience’s attention, and he succeeds a bit at first with some action-packed scenes. However, he poorly writes the scenes with Detective Alice (Emily Mortimer) and her partner, and you feel that you don’t know enough information about them to take their characters seriously. Also, all you can do is not laugh at Harry trying to catch the gang members, when he is barely able to get by on his own with his ill health. I felt that there wasn’t enough material to make a script out of, as it was very predictable, although it might have worked as a television mini-series. There have been a lot of films over the years about people getting revenge, especially those who are gangsters, and Michael Caine certainly has the right look to play one, it was just a shame that his character wasn’t built-up enough.

Over the years Michael Caine has played some interesting characters.  He has certainly worked with some of the most famous directors, so it surprised me that he chose this part, as if he was trying to prove to the audience, if not himself, that he could play a gangster even though he is not known for this type of role. As he is now in his 70s I do hope that this is not his last role, as he is so much better in witty roles, such as Educating Rita and Little Voice, and that we see him in either a comedy or drama again soon.

Harry Brown • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 • Running Time: 103 minutes • MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and language throughout, drug use and sexual content. • Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films