Harry Brown

[andrews]

Has anyone been keeping a note of how many Harry Brown codes there have been? This is surely one for the Guiness Book of Records, or our own unofficial records at the very least...
Answers on a postcard please!

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

I think the uk is desperate for a big hit and is pushing this one for an all out glory hit campaign. I'm sure many of us got an email asking for links to where we have blogged and review the film etc. The quality of British films in IMO have been very very mediocre. So far, I think the greatest Brit film in the last year or 2 was Five Minutes in Heaven which I dont even recall getting a cinema release here. I caught it on tv. But its just got a limited theatre release in America to deservedly rave reviews.

[EthanRunt]

Well, finally seeing it tomorrow, and I cannot wait, the Movie-Con clips are still rather fresh, so I expect the whole film to really resonate for months after as well.

[whoissalma]

This isn't an easy film to watch but I'd definitely recommend it. Thought-provoking and upsetting but well made and excellent acting. Yes it's a little OTT but hey this is the movies.

[AYBG]

This is definitely a film of two halves...

The first half confirmed my suspicion that this would be the new Taken - fiercely violent (which for me is fine), but with questionable overtones (not so fine). Worse, like Harry Brown listening to the radio, the film's perspective was from the outside-in, and the lack of research really showed. Still I set out to judge the film by its own terms and, well, it was just really poor.... the first half, that is.

The plot was cliched and just went through the motions, the dialogue was clunky and full of exposition (particularly the police officers, who made no contribution to the film other than to spoon-feed us Brown's motivation, which was redundant because of my next point), the characters were two-dimensional. Even the titular character. They just threw in a few events to form his motivation. Just compare that to the beautifully constructed development of character in Taxi Driver.

However, the scene where Brown goes to b*y a gun marks a major turning point in quality. The dialogue and story weren't nearly as bad, and even politically the film became fairly balanced (though unfortunately it seemed to have no interest whatsoever in the causes of its society's dysfunction). The best thing was the directing, beautiful to look at and the story smartly portrayed. It was if the first half (3/10) had only been made to set up the second (8/10). Overall: 6/10.

[EthanRunt]

Interesting, I found it the opposite.
The first hour was albeit poorly written a well acted, harrowing and unsettling series of bleak and real events.

As soon as Sir Caine grabs the gun the film becomes a series of ludicrous events and action pieces, and the final 'twist' based setting alongside the riots was laughably Michael Bay-ish in quality.

A real shame as there was hope. 8-9/10 for the first half, but as a whole it drops to 6/10

[AYBG]

Yeah I've got to agree, the "twist" was groan-worthy.

[ejwrank]

I saw this at Muswell Hill (London) today at 12.30 pm and the cinema was packed. I was surprised as my son and I once went to one of these early showings at another London Odeon and no one turned up. I thought the film was gritty, violent but gripping and Michael Caine was good. And as I'm not much of a Michael Caine fan this is quite an admission. The twist at the end was bad--surely Harry Brown seemed a pretty clever guy so surely he would have known something about who is related to whom.

And I think I recognised the area of the canal where they filmed so felt quite pleased with myself.

[ellrond]

Saw this today in Sheffield.

Quite enjoyed this one. As has been mentioned I can see it being quite difficult for some people to watch. I'm 21 and wouldn't want to watch it with my parents. Nor would I take my little neices and nephew for that matter!

I'd summarise it like this: Great cinematography but let down by a plot and dialogue that were both lacking in certain parts. Acting showed some good potential. I liked Caine in the role, but again, as has been mentioned, the police officers were cardboard cutouts.

I'd agree with EthanRunt that the second half was where it took a bit of a turn downhill - why did a full-blown riot kick off? where exactly did the kids find the space to store their unending supply of molotov cocktails? etc.

Those detractions aside I did enjoy the film and would watch it again. 6/10.

[Ms Thrifty]

OH and I saw this tonight at Cineworld Crawley (the 3rd preview there in total and the 2nd today as there had also been a 12.30 pm perf) and it was quite full. To my relief, the violence was nothing like as graphic as I had feared, so I was not only able to watch the whole film but to enjoy it. Yes, the plot was implausible but for entertainment value I'd give it 8/10 and was glad I'd seen it.