Harry Brown: Michael Caine brings the pain
Harry Brown is a cracking British thriller which pits the legendary Sir Michael Caine against a gang of drug dealers on a south-east London estate.
Caine plays the titular Brown, an ex-Royal Marine who is spending his twilight years making regular visits to his dying wife’s hospital bed and playing chess in the pub with his only friend Leonard.
Leonard reveals his constant harassment by local youths, and he is starting to show signs of cracking. A local underpass serves as a gathering point for the dealers. It also acts as a shortcut to the hospital but Harry refuses to take it, fearing for his life.
In one moving scene, after having taken the long way round to the hospital, Harry finds that his wife has already been removed from her bed; succumbing to her illness before he arrived.
The dealers openly deal in public, in between seemingly random acts of violence. Urging his friend not to seek retribution, Harry encourages Len to turn a blind eye to their behaviour for the sake of his safety. But Harry’s friend has become the subject of increasingly serious physical and mental abuse. Len tells Harry he will fight back, revealing a machete that once belonged to his father, but Harry urges calm.
The next morning Harry is visited by police, who tell him that Len has been killed in the underpass. They also say they are unable to prosecute those responsible. After a night of heavy drinking, Harry is set upon by one of the gang who comes at him with a knife. Harry’s old Marine skills come to the fore; he disarms and turns the knife on his assailant killing him in the process. Harry’s affable mood switches - he is now a man with vengeance on his mind.
He stalks, stabs, shoots and tortures his way through a variety of youngsters, searching for the truth of who stuck Leonard with his own blade. It is important to note that Harry does not suddenly do a Yoda in Attack of the Clones; flipping around, ducking and outpacing youngsters who are 60 years his junior. His knowledge of tactics, warfare and weaponry renders Harry a formidable adversary, but he is slow, rheumatic and certainly not invincible.
Michael Caine is excellent. Visions of Alfred offering Bruce Wayne fatherly advice along with breakfast are replaced by images of Caine’s gripping turns in Get Carter or The Italian Job. It is devastating to watch Harry physically break down, once he realises he has no one left that loves him.
Ben Drew (aka singer/rapper Plan B) nails the part of leading gang member Noel Winters; the son of a psychotic, imprisoned gang leader, who sees himself as the heir to his father’s throne. Drew’s performance brings to mind the lyric from his onstage alter-ego’s ‘Kidz’. His behaviour, and that of his peers, is not necessarily his own fault, but nonetheless he’s presented with having little or no compunction.
Sean Harris is disturbing in a supporting role as Stretch. A gun and drug peddling junkie, Stretch puts unwitting girls into comatose states, uses them to make porn films and/or offers them out as prostitutes. Emily Mortimer, as DI Frampton, and Charlie Creed-Miles, as DS Hickock, provide solid support, whilst viewers should keep an eye out for the immensely underrated Liam Cunningham (Dog Soldiers, Breakfast on Pluto) as pub landlord Sid.
Most of the score is the same off-key hook playing over every moment of tension, which we found kind of annoying. Any other musical offering during the film is simple background noise. Given that the credits music is the fittingly-titled and excellent ‘End Credits’, a collaboration between Plan B and drum ‘n bass/dubstep producers Chase & Status, this is a bit of a let down.
First time full length feature director Daniel Barber coaxes excellent performances from his actors, whilst delivering some harrowing visuals. The subject matter is handled well, with Barber tackling some difficult issues bravely, but perhaps not subtly.
We have to say that the film seems torn between social realism and sensationalism. Whilst knife crime and drugs are undeniable realities of today’s society, we felt that Harry Brown strayed close to advocating vigilantism. You’ll have to make your own mind up about that once the film has finished.
There have been comparisons to Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, although we feel these are superficial - OK, so a recently widowed man takes a stand up against violent youth, but that’s where the comparisons ended for us. Caine is the star here no doubt and it is his compelling performance that turns a good story into a great film.
Harry Brown is out now on DVD and Blu-ray.
Image from Filmshaft
