Harry Brown

[Adam Blake]

Michael Caine is way too good for this movie. A lesser actor giving a less powerful performance would have allowed this film to be dismissable as merely cliched and sensationalistic . Ugly too. But Caine's mastery of his craft lends the film a gravitas it doesn't deserve. Caine is brilliant. Every moment he's onscreen he is utterly riveting. He even makes the ludicrous journey that his character is required to take from lonely, vulnerable old man to tough and fearless killer seem somehow plausible. But it isn't plausible. There are many moments when the suspension of disbelief required is simply too much. An old man with emphysema could not have withstood the kind of punishment that Caine's character suffers.

All that said. I enjoyed his performance so much that I can recommend the film simply for that. Also, if you like a good baddie (which I surely do), Sean Harris's performance as the unspeakably evil Stretch - your friendly local dealer in guns, drugs and underage girls - is lip-smackingly good. I know actors; he must have had SUCH a good time putting that characterisation together.

But the central premise is essentially fascistic: what teenage thugs need is not better education and the prospect of a proper job doing something useful, no, what they need is to be brutally murdered by an old age pensioner. OK? Got it? Good.

[Adam Blake]

Just had a great idea for a movie:

Old Commodities Futures Broker, in his 70s, ex Eton and Oxbridge, proper old Upper Class mogul, ruined by the credit crunch and the chicanery of his former colleagues, living all alone in decaying splendour in a crumbling mansion in Eaton Square (the UNfashionable side). His wife has left him, his children won't talk to him, he KNOWS who all the bad guys are, he's done business with them. So he finally snaps one day and goes on a rampant killing spree of evil Hedge Fund managers and Merchant Bankers. The police are baffled. In the end we have a panoramic shot of The Square Mile at dawn, purged of evil...

Whaddya think? High Concept enough?? Who do I approach for funding??? Too bad Dirk Bogarde is no longer with us, he'd have been perfect for the starring role. I guess it'll have to be James Fox.

[Jamie Renton]

what they need is to be brutally murdered by an old age pensioner.

So it's Death Wish with a bus pass

[Adam Blake]

Yep, transferred on to a South London Housing Estate. Michael Caine is better than Charles Bronson, though.

[Des]

I can't see this Michael Caine thang. I don't rate him as an actor unless he's playing Michael Caine, which he does all the time. His only really great performance was in The Quiet American.

There I've said it.

[Adam Blake]

Michael Caine is a star actor. All star actors are like that - Nicholson, Brando, De Niro etc, they're always basically the same but they're always different. Caine is actually getting better and better as he gets old. Which is more than can be said for most star actors.

But we must differ here, Des. I love his work. He consistently rescues otherwise crappy films. "The Cider House Rules", "The Honorary Consul" spring to mind. This latest is just an extreme example of that syndrome. But his greatest hits: "Sleuth", "Get Carter", "The Italian Job", "Alfie" etc. You forget how strong they were because they are so much part of the movie landscape. He created those performances, that archetype, and if you don't like them then that doesn't mean he's any less of an actor.

[Dayna]

I thought Michael Caine was very funny in Miss Congeniality. I like Sandra Bullock too.

Anthony Hopkins is great. I liked him in Shadowlands.

Jim Carey annoys me. He's one that always has played the same character, & he's not very funny.
I like Denzel Washington.

[Adam Blake]

Jim Carrey and Jack Black exemplify everything that went wrong with modern movie acting. They, along with latter day Eddie Murphy, are the autotuned clicktracks of Hollywood. Female versions might be Sarah Jessica Parker or Sandra Bullock.

Denzel Washington, on the other hand, is surely one of the greats.

[Jamie Renton]

Michael Caine is a star actor. All star actors are like that - Nicholson, Brando, De Niro etc, they're always basically the same but they're always different.

I'd say De Niro's the odd one out there, as he built his reputation on being completely different in each role. More recently however he's moved from chameleon to self parody.

[Des]

Jim Carrey was brilliant in the Truman Show though innit - I think he got that just right.

[Adam Blake]

I hated that bloody film!

Des, you and me are not not ever going to the pictures together...

[Dayna]

I love the Christmas Carol story & films about it, so when the new film from Disney was first advertised, I was excited. Then I saw that Jim Carrey was in it, & thought, "Oh man, I don't want to see him in it!"

Quite a some time ago, I was involved with a Christmas Carol play, for a couple years. I was in it & worked with various parts of it. It had various actors ranging from non-professionals, semi-professional & professional actors in it. I thought they were better than Jim Carrey.

One other actor that is one of the greats is Samuel L. Jackson. I love an actor that knows how to get you to feel what he is feeling. I saw one called Changing Lanes, which had Ben Afflek in it. He played a rich yuppie, who because of a traffic accident, did everything he possibly could to destroy the life of a man, played by Samuel L. Jackson & I felt so much sympathy for him & anger towards the selfish yuppie.

[Gordon Neill]

I saw Harry Brown last weekend and, like Adam, I'd recommend it. Michael Caine dominates the film, with a lovely understated performance. It is an odd film, in that it feels like a game of two halves. The first part feels as though it's directed by Ken Loach, with washed-out colours, and a grim shabbiness. It seems to have pretentions of Art House, but, as the violence kicks in (ouch!), it suddenly turns into a simplistic goodie/baddie Popcorn film. And there are plenty of times when that's all I want!

I suppose old Harry really should have gone and held a focus group or organised a petition to improve local education and community recreational facilities. But that might have made for a fairly long and tedious lecture. Much better that he just decided to kill the bastards. I mean, it's the only language they understand!

Recommended, if you’re in the mood for a bit of vengeance and splattered blood.

[Jamie Renton]

I finally caught up with this (is two and half years fashionably late enough for you?) I stand by my "Death Wish with a bus pass" comment. It was utter crap, but quite enjoyable in parts. Although I can't help feeling that Steptoe and Son did it first and did it better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N2BBD94faU

[AndyM]

Unfair yardstick, since Steptoe & Son did pretty much everything better than everything!