Director: Daniel Barber
Starring: Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer & Liam Cunningham
An enjoyable, if predictable, thriller that despite many clichés throughout the film, still entertains thanks to a strong performance from Michael Caine.
A film coming out of the current climate in the UK, particularly the levels of crime, Harry Brown could be seen as much as a revenge tale for audiences frustrated at crime and a, seemingly, ineffectual police force as it is a revenge tale for the character of Harry Brown. Whilst not offering a more balanced view of the situation faced in some city areas with the estate depicted in the film an exaggeration of conditions, it nevertheless speaks to the fears experienced by many and for them, and fans of Michael Caine, the film is entertaining despite many shortcomings in the story and its execution.
Concerned with rising crime and gang problems on his local housing estate, retired Harry Brown (Caine) is hit with several losses at once when his bedridden wife dies in the hospital before he can see her due to gangs blocking his way and then his friend Leonard (David Bradley) is found beaten to death following an attempt by Leonard to confront one of the gangs. When the police detectives investigating Leonard’s death lead by Detective Frampton (Mortimer), arrive to inform Harry that a lack of evidence has lead to no convictions amongst the gang members responsible for Leonard’s death, Harry decides to take matters into his own hands, relying on his old training from being in the Marines, to embark upon a vigilante crusade to avenge Leonard’s death and clean up the estate.
Despite possessing a very enjoyable performance from Michael Caine and the subject of the film’s storyline being interesting in it’s, if over-exaggerated, confrontation of fears over crime in contemporary Britain, Harry Brown is a very predictable film. From the inevitable first act death of his friend, to the fates surrounding many of the film’s other characters like gang members themselves and the detectives; most events in the film can be predicted long before they actually occur in the plot. While some enjoyment, if guilty, can be found in seeing criminals get their comeuppance, the inevitability of it all takes away some of the enjoyment as the film offers up no surprises. The film is also filled with cliché with the criminal elements portrayed as irredeemable (no attempts to show how they came to be this way, to stir up any empathy, is attempted) and the police force is shown to be incredibly ineffectual making the film as much a condemnation of the current government as of criminals. With little attempt at anything original, Harry Brown is enjoyable but not as much as it could have been.
Fortunately, what Harry Brown lacks in originality in plotline, it almost makes up for with the performance of Michael Caine in the starring role of Harry himself. Whilst not an especially challenging role, Caine still gives the film much gravitas with his performance as Harry. Initially showing Harry to be world weary but sympathetic to others troubles, his transformation into a man willing to commit violence and take lives when necessary is also believable making the character sympathetic despite the acts he commits. Amongst the mostly unfamiliar faces filling the roles of criminals and police officers who all have largely underwritten roles, the only other noteworthy performance in the film is Emily Mortimer as Detective Frampton. While her role is another one written more for plot purposes, that of the well meaning but ineffectual detective, Mortimer still makes her character a sympathetic one who realises her restrictions but nevertheless opposes Harry’s methods once it becomes clear what he is doing. As the film’s sole objector to Harry’s eye-for-an-eye style of justice, Mortimer does well though not enough to really dampen the enjoyment of Harry’s revenge.
Overall, while possessing an entertaining performance from Michael Caine and some guilty pleasure in his character’s crusade, Harry Brown is quite enjoyable however the plot is riddled with clichés making the story too predictable to satisfy alone. Thankfully the film stars Michael Caine then.
Rating: 3/5
