I like the poster of this movie very much. It feels like deja vu. Later, I remembered that it was similar to the poster of "Man Bites a Dog". The overexposure of the protagonist’s head is clever, so you might think that the man with the gun in the poster is a Jason Statham-like New England tough guy. It is difficult to associate with Michael Kane, an old man who is almost 80. And the irony is very interesting.
When watching this movie, I think of many movies, such as "Dead Man's Shoes", "Taxi Driver", "Vengeance", "Punished Man", "Brave Man", etc. The theme of using violence to control violence is really not What a new thing. Fortunately, the common people always have grievances in their hearts. And I am one of them.
British movies are just like British rock. They are crisp and hard, and will not be muddled. The pseudo-documentary at the beginning quickly brought the audience into the plot. With a headshot, I tell you very frankly that this is a place full of madness and violence. These little boys will always do something excessive suddenly and will not let you have any preparations. Therefore, if you want to live a quiet life here, you can only continue to tolerate it; or, change it.
The appearance of the protagonist seems to pull us back from the last violent world. The slow pace of life, the widowed elderly, play chess with old partners every day. It looks safe, as if there is no street violence. At this time, the danger has always been hidden below. There are only a few small hints, like the drug dealer in the bar, and the few teenagers who smashed the car downstairs, all like a ignited explosive fuse, suggesting that danger is coming. And when the old friend Leonard drew the knife from the bathroom and said that he could no longer bear it, the danger of being covered up was finally revealed. Sr. Harry Brown's stance that he has nothing to do with his own children has gradually been pushed to the center of the contradiction. The best friend was killed because these boys occupied the underpass and could not see his wife for the last time. These events that harmed his personal interests made him no longer able to be an outsider, and the sense of justice in his heart gradually rose. So the revenge began...
The attraction of the film is of course not the revenge story of the bad street, but the old veteran played by Michael Caine. If it is a story of revenge for the brawny, then the movie is much weaker. Many people say this movie "Classic Car" by Dongmutou, but I think of his other movie-"Unforgivable". In my opinion, "Harry Brown" is not a movie about juvenile delinquency or violence against violence. It's a movie about men, about men's forbearance, and men's friendship. The sign of a man's maturity is that he is no longer a dumbfounded man, no longer rushing with blood, solving everything with violence. Mature men know how to be patient and know how to think twice before acting. Harry Brown is such a person. As a lonely old man who is almost 80 years old, living in such a chaotic and poor society, what can he do if he can't bear it. And all the outbreaks came from the killing of good friends, and justice could not be done. Harry Brown, like Dongmutou in "Unforgivable", began a man's road of revenge.
The most exciting and most important part of the film should be the scene where Harry Brown went to a drug dealer to buy a gun. The whole scene is very restrained and powerful. Because this scene is an important transition of Harry’s transformation from his heart to his behavior, the director also took great pains in this scene. It took a long time to describe the confrontation between Harry and the drug dealer, from when Harry entered the house to when the two sides shot each other. Killing, the whole scene is peaceful on the surface, but the crisis is surging. Every action of the drug dealer adds a point of tension to the scene. The old man Michael Kane is indeed an excellent actor. He was calm and even panicked, but there was a fierce pressure inside, so when he pierced the hand of the drug dealer with a knife, and chased another drug dealer with a gun. At that time, I followed the response in my heart: "Yes, this old man can do this kind of thing!"
I haven’t lived in the UK. I don’t know if the suburbs of London are really as messy as the movie says. London is definitely not a peaceful place. In fact, I can think of it, as long as there are young people in this world, there is no time for the old men to live in peace. As the old Harry Brown said, in Northern Ireland, people still fight for something. And here, violence is for no reason, maybe just a kind of entertainment. Just like the frequent violence in boys' schools. If the excess hormones in the young man are not released in a correct way, he can only use violence to vent himself. In addition, this is another impoverished community, and it is inevitable for the poor and the poor people to make things, which makes it more reasonable. The inaction of the police further contributed to the birth of civilian heroes. Emily Mortimer, the female prosecutor played by Emily Mortimer, represents the ideal state of the law. Of course, since it is an ideal state, that is, a state that does not exist, many things cannot be solved by rules alone. Otherwise, Harry's old partner would not die unclearly and let the murderer get away with it. The loopholes in the rules make people look forward to heroes outside the rules, just like Superman and Batman running around. The popularity of these heroes who are not recognized by the law is another expression of public dissatisfaction with the status quo and the rules.
As director Daniel Barber’s first feature film debut, he wants to say a lot about juvenile delinquency, the problem of rich and poor, the bureaucracy of the police station, the origin of juvenile delinquency, and the problems of the elderly. He even wanted to make this movie into an action movie, but Michael Kane was too old to play so much work. It can only reduce the action scenes and increase the inner drama. Fortunately, it has been modified this way. If 50% of the entire film is spent with a white-haired old man like Michael Kane flying through the sky with a gun, what a bizarre scene would be. Although many people say that the current processing is too slow in the first half, and too much foreshadowing. But I think this is reasonable. An old man is almost 80. Even though he is a veteran of the Marine Corps, he is now an ordinary citizen. If he does not give enough incident conflicts and emotional accumulation, the old man’s revenge The behavior is not credible.
Indeed, there are still many problems in the movie. There are too many shadows of other movies in it, and some plots are too simple to deal with, especially at the end. Almost all the characters in the movie are concentrated in the same scene-the bar, and then bang bang bang. With the gun, several contradictions have been resolved. This way of handling always makes people feel that the director is trying to save trouble. It may not be said that this ending is unreasonable, but that it is not exciting. In fact, you can be more attentive.
Looking at the comments, someone thought of a darker ending, saying, "Harry walked into the tunnel and a shot was fired. It indicates that the criminal has not been eradicated, and the police chief’s righteous words are all nonsense." The idea is good, it is indeed blacker. NS. But I think it's better to use the ending now. No matter how black the movie is, it's not as good as reality. Let's give us little people hope! Even in the movie. .
View more about Harry Brown reviews
