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Published on Monday, November 9, 2009 - 9:24am |
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We got a glowing review of Michael Caine's return to revenge cinema: HARRY BROWN!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a review from talkbacker The Lonely Dachshund who got to see the Michael Caine old-man-kicking-ass revenge flick HARRY BROWN.
No hyperbole here, but Harry Brown is one of my most anticipated flicks in the can. When I sat down with Michael Caine earlier this year he described it as what would have happened if Jack Carter had lived to a ripe old age and was called back into action. This film promises to be everything I wanted out of GRAN TORINO and didn't get...
Here's Mr. Dachshund's thoughts on the film!
Hello Harry,
I don’t know if you’ve run a full review on “Harry Brown” yet but if not, please consider the following. I know Quint did an interview with Michael Caine a little while back where he discussed it. But I got into a screening of the film this past week and had to share my thoughts.
In short, it is a badass film that you have to see if you get a chance. It is brutal and violent without being exploitive and well worth seeing.
Here’s the long way round:
Basically, the film is a grittier, violent, British version of “Gran Torino.” Michael Caine’s Harry Brown and Clint Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski have much in common. Both are retirees and recent widowers living alone in neighborhoods that used to be nice places to raise a family but are now ghettos run by petty gangsters and thugs who push around, rob and intimidate the locals. Both are ex-military men who have seen combat and are haunted by the acts they committed and witnessed during that time in their lives. And both feel they need to teach these young punks a lesson since the police are doing nothing to stop them from dealing drugs and killing people in the streets.
But the films have one MAJOR difference. Whereas Eastwood’s Kowalski ultimately decides that killing is not the answer and deals with his situation in a more sacrificial way, Caine’s Brown takes the opposite approach.
He decides to start putting bullets in people’s heads.
Keep in mind: this is not some throwaway action flick. Caine gives a strong performance here that some may not be used to seeing him in. Maybe I’m too used to seeing him as Alfred, but here he is at turns vulnerable and intimidating. You feel his anger and frustration as he sees what’s happening around him. You want him to take care of business. And you’re scared of him when he does. I think his accent helps with this. When he kindly explains to a druggie who’s been hit in the gut by one of his bullets how he’s going to slowly bleed out since it hit his liver, the posh English enunciation makes the whole thing a bit more haunting.
And though Caine’s performance makes the film what it is, credit has to be given to director Daniel Barber. Barber puts a lot of genuine tension here and that’s not easy. I think we’re so used to seeing things turn out cleanly and in a preditable way that it’s a bit jarring when it doesn’t. The best example here is a surprisingly long scene where Brown goes out to buy a gun from a drug dealer. (It’s England. You can’t buy handguns as easily as in the States.) It reminded me of that scene in “Boogie Nights” when Alfred Molina is jamming out to Night Ranger while Mark Wahlberg and his friends are nervously waiting on the couch. Every minute a new element is introduced which sets you and everyone in the scene on edge. You know at any moment, some one is going to snap and the shit is going to hit the fan. I won’t spoil it, but the scene is like that. And it pays off.
But the best scene in the movie doesn’t even have Caine in it. The film’s opening is a video of a gang member during an initiation. It is shot on a little home video camera giving it a more immediate feel. I know, I know; I think the whole “No really! It’s shot on video! That makes it more real!” convention is tired. For every “Paranormal Activity” there are dozens of failing poseurs. But this scene…I can’t wait to see it again. Even from a filmmaking standpoint, one has to be impressed. Again, I won’t divulge the details but once you see it, you’ll know what I mean. Barber is definitely a director to watch. The film isn’t perfect and a revelation towards the end is unnecessary though not harmful but he makes a strong debut here.
And by no means am I trying to imply that “Harry Brown” is trying to copy “Gran Torino.” More than likely neither had anything to do with the other. But the two do show fundamental differences in how American and European films approach the same subject. Can you imagine “Gran Torino” getting a greenlight by Warner Bros. and making $148 million dollars if it included a scene of Eastwood torturing a man less than half his age to get information out of him? I don’t think so. But we watch Caine do it and mercilessly so.
I liked “Gran Torino” but I wasn’t blown away by it. I wanted Eastwood in the end to take the gang members out. I wanted that cathartic ending. “Harry Brown” delivers it and doesn’t wait until the end to give it to you. And though I admire and respect Eastwood’s work, Caine here makes him look a bit like a pansy.
If you print this, please use my talkback signature The Lonely Dachshund.
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Reader Talkback
FIRST!!! by SLY_STALLONES_COCK_VEIN | Nov 9th, 2009 08:26:52 AM | SECOND!! by SLY_STALLONES_COCK_VEIN | Nov 9th, 2009 08:27:28 AM | THIRD!!!! by SLY_STALLONES_COCK_VEIN | Nov 9th, 2009 08:28:06 AM | ON TOPIC by SLY_STALLONES_COCK_VEIN | Nov 9th, 2009 08:28:45 AM | Michael Caine with a 'posh'
English accent?! by The Grug | Nov 9th, 2009 08:29:35 AM | Sir Michael Caine... by The Edges Hat | Nov 9th, 2009 08:34:47 AM | But was it a failure on an
epic scale? by ricarleite2 | Nov 9th, 2009 08:36:23 AM | Sounds groovy by Daytripper69 | Nov 9th, 2009 08:36:47 AM | Yes, I can see Gran Torina
geting greenlit... by eustisclay | Nov 9th, 2009 08:37:04 AM | The asian actors in Gran
Torino were horrible... by GrandMuffTarkin | Nov 9th, 2009 08:42:23 AM | Does it end with Caine
crooning over the credits? by seppukudkurosawa | Nov 9th, 2009 08:50:44 AM | And "posh, English
pronunciation"? by seppukudkurosawa | Nov 9th, 2009 08:52:48 AM | more like Death Wish than Gran
Torino by Gungan Slayer | Nov 9th, 2009 09:21:23 AM | Caine's accent is posh in Zulu by thinboyslim. | Nov 9th, 2009 09:21:28 AM | I also anticipate Harry Brown
in the can. by The Dark Shite | Nov 9th, 2009 09:22:05 AM | Sounds like a good movie! by The Dark Shite | Nov 9th, 2009 09:32:00 AM | I can't wait for the sequel
"Harry Reems" by The_Crimson_King | Nov 9th, 2009 10:48:44 AM | Same Exact Plot As Death Wish
3 by Acquanetta | Nov 9th, 2009 11:18:11 AM | Caine had a posh accent in
ZULU, his first big movie by Tacom | Nov 9th, 2009 11:19:59 AM | Hope this movie has a theme as
cool as GET CARTER by Tacom | Nov 9th, 2009 11:20:49 AM | Michael Caine's performance is
stronger because... by sheenakrull | Nov 9th, 2009 11:57:03 AM | Michael Caine's posh accent?! by Cat_Corporation | Nov 9th, 2009 12:26:28 PM | can't wait to see this by baaba_pappa | Nov 9th, 2009 12:38:36 PM | I saw this last week... by WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR | Nov 9th, 2009 01:06:39 PM | I think the version of gran
torina we got by slappy jones | Nov 9th, 2009 01:46:14 PM | Eastwood torturing a man half
his age... by tailhook | Nov 9th, 2009 01:53:52 PM | I thinkk GT did what it needed
to.... by Taragor | Nov 9th, 2009 02:31:56 PM | Here's hoping it has more
balls to it than... by Guy Grand | Nov 9th, 2009 02:47:58 PM | FIRST...one to say it aint
over until I say it's over by Hey_Kobe_Tell_Me_How_My_Ass_Ta
stes | Nov 9th, 2009 03:11:25 PM | Way to miss the point of Gran
Torino Quint by savagedave | Nov 9th, 2009 03:54:57 PM | Ya Quint, Gran Torino was
great because it bucked
expectation by bullet3 | Nov 9th, 2009 04:00:55 PM | HARRY BROWN is an
uncompromising movie by spud mcspud | Nov 9th, 2009 04:09:37 PM | Feels a lot like DEATH
SENTENCE by spud mcspud | Nov 9th, 2009 04:12:11 PM | GranTorino was great and ... by HessianHorseman | Nov 9th, 2009 04:15:06 PM | And for those lily-livered
liberals who say it's
fascist... by spud mcspud | Nov 9th, 2009 04:32:32 PM | HARRY BROWN is the film I
wanted GANDHI to be! by savagedave | Nov 9th, 2009 05:37:43 PM | CGI Martin Balsom. by Sal_Bando | Nov 9th, 2009 07:10:37 PM | FingerBang Part 2???? by U_Banned_Me_Down_The_Stairs | Nov 9th, 2009 10:59:37 PM | Blame It On Rio 2: Withered
Winky Paradise by Rocco Curioso | Nov 10th, 2009 12:16:27 AM | I'd watch it if Scarlett
Johansson got naked... by The_Crimson_King | Nov 10th, 2009 02:06:34 AM | Michael Caine doesn't have a
posh english accent by AsimovLives | Nov 10th, 2009 02:24:58 AM | Geriatric ass kicker!! by AsimovLives | Nov 10th, 2009 02:26:13 AM | I'm gonna like this film by tomimt | Nov 10th, 2009 02:38:17 AM | spud mcspud by Wyrdy the Gerbil | Nov 10th, 2009 03:39:40 AM | I'll see this. by Dingbatty | Nov 10th, 2009 04:41:24 AM | Saw this a week ago by Uridium | Nov 10th, 2009 04:56:40 AM | Spud McSpud by Yer_Maw | Nov 10th, 2009 05:29:50 AM | Saw it yesterday by OGoncho | Nov 10th, 2009 06:49:10 AM | Want to see this one! by Drsambeckett1984 | Nov 10th, 2009 09:04:57 AM | After all the shows/movies us
yanks have stolen by Grammaton Cleric Binks | Nov 10th, 2009 09:59:22 AM | Uridium, get a new girlfriend. by Grammaton Cleric Binks | Nov 10th, 2009 10:00:21 AM | The Man Who Would be King is a
must see by Grammaton Cleric Binks | Nov 10th, 2009 10:02:11 AM | The Man Who Would be King is a
must see by Grammaton Cleric Binks | Nov 10th, 2009 10:03:16 AM | Grammaton Cleric Binks by Drsambeckett1984 | Nov 10th, 2009 10:31:50 AM | Yer_Maw by spud mcspud | Nov 10th, 2009 11:12:52 AM | Drsambeckett1984 by Grammaton Cleric Binks | Nov 10th, 2009 12:02:31 PM | Yer_Maw... And as for
"fact-lite bollocks"... by spud mcspud | Nov 10th, 2009 12:43:34 PM | Spud.... by Y282 | Nov 10th, 2009 01:29:51 PM | Y282 - Cheers mate by spud mcspud | Nov 10th, 2009 02:10:31 PM | Damn typos! by spud mcspud | Nov 10th, 2009 02:11:44 PM | People like these movies for a
reason by liljuniorbrown | Nov 10th, 2009 03:51:29 PM | spud mcspud - the endless
fucking reply by Yer_Maw | Nov 10th, 2009 06:43:02 PM | Y282 by Yer_Maw | Nov 10th, 2009 06:46:35 PM | Cheers, Yer_Maw by spud mcspud | Nov 11th, 2009 09:18:54 AM | Yer_Mam by spud mcspud | Nov 11th, 2009 09:23:53 AM | Yer_maw.... by Y282 | Nov 11th, 2009 01:04:14 PM |
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