Hairy business...
3 stars (out of 5)
Director: Daniel Barber
Cast: Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Charlie Creed-Miles, David Bradley, Iain Glen
Rating: (R18)
It might be premature to talk in terms of a gun-toting geriatric genre, but after Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, the Brits have chimed in with a mean old man of their own. And who better to cast as a pensioner vigilante than Michael Caine.
Amid the tower blocks of South London, two vulnerable and lonely old men inhabit an environment populated with meth-addled hoodies. Harry (Michael Caine), keeps his head down and pays the menace no mind, until the peril impinges on the only two people he cares about.
From his meticulously kept flat to dapper dress, everything about Harry screams ex-military, so it's almost a relief when we discover that Harry is a Northern Ireland veteran.
Caine revels in a role that fortunately doesn't rely on laboured cockney banter. With subtle use of eyes and matured mannerisms, Caine's simmering anger is reasonably plausible, especially when paired with some of the over-scripted druggie caricatures around him.
But, not even Michael Caine as a well-hard old geezer can offset Harry Brown's predictability.
Director Daniel Barber also cloaks Harry's concrete-clad world with such beautifully graded light, that the visceral impact of the nasty-ass miscreants is nullified.
Harry Brown is a basic tale of retribution that will not be remembered for anything more than Caine's fusion of Eastwood and Bronson.
Best thing: This is a superb lesson in what can be achieved with brilliant lighting.
Worst thing: The casting of Emily Mortimer. Either her part was poorly scripted or she just didn't nail it.
See it with: Anyone who can remember Zulu.
- Mark Orton
