Movie Review - Harry Brown

Harry Brown (2010)

Starring Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer

Directed by Daniel Barber

I knew going into this that Harry Brown was a vigilante actioner with an old man going after the young gangfolk who had killed his best friend.  I had no idea it was going to be so shockingly violent.  That's certainly not a bad thing, but be forewarned that those expecting some scaled-back Michael Caine flick are in for a rude awakening.

I pretty much summed up the story in a nutshell above.  Michael Caine is the title character, a widower living his life with a tiny cloud of melancholy always surrounding him.  That cloud begins to turn into a thunderstorm, however, after his best friend is killed by a local street gang who is running rampant in his apartment community.  With the cops unable to rein in the gang, Harry takes things into his own hands, enacting some badassery on the punk kids who murdered his friend.

If there's a problem with the flick it's that the story is too simple.  The film moves along very quickly but that's because there's not much there.  Still, what is there is better than your average flick, I just wish there was a little more for the great Michael Caine to act upon.  As it stands now, I completely buy his motivation, but a little more background in order to further explain his emotions would have been appreciated.  

Caine is quite good here and the direction by first-timer Daniel Barber is stellar.  I was kind of amazed when I looked at his imdb filmography to find this was his debut.  Despite the lack of plot, I admittedly was on the edge of my seat the entire film.  Considering that I'm in the midst of a Hitchcock fest -- a director known for creating tension-filled flicks -- that's certainly a commendation for Mr. Barber.  Did he take it a few steps too far at times in the violence department?  Maybe...at moments, some of the overtly vicious stuff seemed to be in the flick simply for shock value more than anything else.  But, overall, I think Barber crafted a very good little film.

The RyMickey Rating:  B