Bronson

Tom Hardy gives a truly Oscar winning performance as Michael Peterson, in fact I would go so far as to say it was Eastwood (Gran Torino) beating. Sadly for me though it was really only his performance that carried the movie along. I freely admit that I didn't know much about the man before I saw this movie, but most of the film seemed to be Bronson beating prison guards up in various different locations & not much more. I know he got re-married - where was this? OK he spent most of his life behind bars, but surely there was a bit more to the mans life than what we saw? I've read that Bronson was quite happy about this movie & that it has given him some immortality, however I'm not sure that it really is going to leave people with the impression of him that he thinks. I certainly didn't leave the cinema thinking of him as a "billy the kid / Jessie James" anti-hero, but instead pitied him as a lost, out of control man who knew nothing but violence - more of a tortured soul.

Another major crap released. The atrocity of these filmmakers who would create sucky movie and then call it "art". "Well it's art, you can't argue with it, you either like it or not" Bulls***! It's crap dressed pretty. The fact that this movie has a very weak storyline, weak premise, trying too hard and very weak impression should tells us that the producer, director and whoever else involved in making Brunson is out of their mind. In no way this is a breakthrough. This must rank way way down in its own genre, which I'm sure will be called "crappy movies lacking imagination". Oh wait a minute, the music sucked too. I would think that's one of the area they could get right since, well, it's not so hard picking good music. All in all, they are trying to hard to make a certain kind of movie and it fails. A big, fat, major failure. If you ever had the misfortune of renting this, make sure you don't bring your loved ones to see it, they don't deserve it.

I cannot believe the praise heaped on this movie that tries to be too many things at once and fails at them all. It fails as: a) a serious biopic, b) a black comedy, c) an homage to Kubrick/A Clockwork Orange. Hardy is a fine actor (or this would be a 1 star review), but the tone is all wrong and far too many scenes were uncomfortably hard to watch. The attempts to elicit humor were cringe-worthy. After it was over, I realized I would have much rather seen a serious documentary of Bronson. However, if you really want to see an insane person play with his feces and/or you really love Tom Hardy and want to see his junk flopping around then this may be the movie for you.

A film about the most violent man in the British Prison system really should have a lot more substance to it than this. For me this attempt is a meandering, self pandering effort. The over artsy theatre scenes (WHY?). The lack of a feeling of time (one minute it's 1974 and Bronson is doing an armed robbery, the next well you never have a clue, the narration says 24 out of 26 years in solitary then ending text says it was 30 out of 34) all just cause a sense of bemusement. This film has next to nothing to do with the man, little to do with violence and more to do with a director and cast attempts at making something so far from the subject that they should have picked something else. Bronson's story is a sad, harrowing and eye opening one. Having read biographies of the man which tell the story so much better I was left expecting far more from this movie. This film covers none of his motivations, it barely explains why he attacked the inmate in Rampton (the film gives you the hint that he was a 'nonce' by him mentioning a 9 year old, but if you weren't paying too much attention then you'd have no idea.) It wraps it all up into a neat ball of 'I wanted to be famous'. it tells in a very confusing and odd way the story of why he ended up back inside, according to this he stole a ring and that was that, in truth there was a lot more going on (sure stealing the ring was the crux of it, but this ignores all of what was going on.) All in all I'd say if you want to know more about this man then read one of the biographies, you'll learn a lot more and be far more 'entertained', this film is an overblown 'lovey' type experience.

I've been looking forward to seeing this film for a long time. The UK press love Charles Bronson so i thought a film about his life, his story would be excellent. Instead of basing it all on fact and making a decent film out of it, the director and production team decided to take the "arty" route which in my opinion just doesn't work at all. The bizarre scenes where he's standing on a stage wearing clown makeup and speaking to a crowd actually annoyed me. This arty feel works for films like Clockwork Orange but not a film about a real life prisoner. They had the opportunity to make a cracking film but blew it. The real life Charlies Bronson is obviously a very eccentric man who loves the press attention but the film just takes it one step too far. I'm hoping that any future production about Charles Bronson will concentrate more on facts and less on the arty farty nonsense.

'Bronson' is a ninety minute dramatised account of the life of one of Britain's most notorious prisoners, Michael "Charlie Bronson" Petersen. Originally jailed for armed robbery in the seventies, Bronson's refusal to button down to porridge - and ambition to become a "name" in prison, saw him take hostages, stage protests and fight many prison guards at a time. His resultant extended sentence of a staggering thirty four years of prison have seen him spend twenty six years in solitary confinement, a spell in an insane asylum and a total of one hundred and twenty four days of parole/freedom. With each small burst of freedom on the outside, Bronson realised he was ill suited to a world fast outpacing him - he is a king and a legend in prison, however and one of the strong messages of the film is that he would rather suffer the slings and arrows of jail than operate in a world he could not fathom. Bronson, in an awards-magnetising, all consuming performance from 'Star Trek: Nemesis's Tom Hardy, narrates his own life story from a Proscenium stage. Bronson's innate comedic and artistic talents are exploited in these linking scenes. He wears Leigh-Bowery style clown make-up as he addresses the audience - in fact Leigh Bowery's influence seems a touchstone for the atavistic "war paint" Bronson adopts during various staged battles with his jailers, as well as his own surrealist cartoons. A pastiche of an act popularised by slightly nihilistic British comedian "Freddy Starr" is used inspirationally in Bronson's description of his dealings with an asylum's governors. All in all, this is a rich, highly stylish and convincing account of an empty life and aching soul. Vertigo Pictures appear not to have had a distributor for the film at the screening this writer attended and it would be a shame if a major international distributor trimmed the violence, homo-erotic subtexts and surrealism as it would neuter the piece. In a film that is 'A Sense of Freedom', with the period tone and raw power, but profound Britishness, of 'The Long, Good Friday' - plus a dash of 'The Rocky Horror Show' and 'Shrek' - an anti-hero as impressive as Eric Bana's 'Chopper' (2000) is born. Although, unlike his Antipodean doppelganger, Bronson don't hit women. A refreshingly different British crime movie. You won't have enough...

Can you really produce a biopic about the theatrical brutality of Britain's most dangerous prisoner and not incite comparisons to Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange?" The trailer for Nicholas Winding Refn's "Bronson" spouts the likeness triumphantly with a quote attributed to Damien McSorley for the publication, "Zoo." Surely Kubrick is a flattering filmmaker to have your humble work compared to, though like American director Wes Anderson, who borrows all the style of the man but none of the content, "Bronson" is a film with an air of grandiosity and very little in the way of actual story. Kubrick's film, based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, has a Dickensian plot that doubles back on characters and scenarios established in the first act, leaving nothing unchanged by the end of the third. It's a comparison under which "Bronson" unfavorably suffers: well directed, impeccably performed, but completely devoid of structure. I don't mean to undersell the above compliments, however. Tom Hardy as lowly criminal Michael Peterson and his imprisoned superstar alter ego Charles Bronson, displays a remarkable, feral intensity in the role, spitting meaty, cockney chunks of dialogue with a truly disquieting voracity. And Hardy makes a perfect match for Refn: both share a larger- than-life approach to their craft. The director's visual audacity is never more sublimely paired with Hardy's performance than during Bronson's intermittent narrations; snippets of a surreal one-man stage show for some great, unseen audience. The cutaways recall the feel of Alex's presentation following the successful administration of the ludovico technique in "Clockwork Orange." Swooping crane and sweeping dolly shots, along with some fantastic locations, also evoke Kubrick's directorial sentiments, as does the more obvious accompaniment of classical score to key sequences. Unfortunately, the failure of "Bronson" is not only that there's very little dramatically to be done with a man who spends the better part of his life in solitary confinement, but that beyond a vague notoriety, Peterson's ultimate goal is never particularly clear. The ending of the film is startling in its abruptness given that the scene seems interchangeable with any number of the fights Bronson picks over the course of the film. It doesn't feel a particularly epic brawl, and by that point, the tedium of Bronson's outbursts, battles, and increasingly severe punishments had worn me (though it could maybe be called a statement on the nature of desensitizing cinema--in that respect a reverse "Clockwork Orange") into a sleepy passivity. The film is nevertheless a step the right direction for the usually-schlocky and hyper- masculine Refn, but "Bronson" still wants for the substantiality that makes great films great films. It isn't likely to inspire any further meditation on its subject beyond perhaps provoking a curiosity about the man himself in those intrigued but unsatisfied with the screenplay's frugal allocation of hard data and social context. But despite the film's inability to make clear its greater thematic intent, I don't think "Bronson" is a perversely violent film or that it exists solely as a fetishistic idol to counterculture, as some will likely label it, and have labeled Kubrick's masterpiece. Its beautiful cinematography (courtesy Larry Smith, interestingly enough, the lighting cameraman for Kubick's own "Eyes Wide Shut") and stellar lead may make it a worthwhile rental next year, but as it stands, "Bronson" is a precautionary tale. It's a film that has everything going for it except the the thing that matters most: its story. And you don't need to be Stanley Kubrick to figure that out.

This movie starts of with the title "Based on a true story". As a career law enforcement officer of the UK and a crime research enthusiast, I have to say this is very, very loosely based on real facts. If you watch the extra's with the director, he will even tell you that his information on the Bronson facts are based on rumors and newspaper clippings. Unfortunately, the movie glorifies the exorbitant violence that Bronson wanted to be known for. In reality, every law enforcement officer or prison guard will tell you that he was not much different when compared to any other prisoner. To enhance the visual impact of the movie, the level of graphic male nudity is extreme to the point where Tom Hardy may as well played the movie sans clothes. Numerous penile close-ups make you wondering if the movie would border on soft *. Overall, this movie is portrayed as a British "Hollywood" version of events, due to its incorrect facts, its "artsy" persona, I would not recommend this movie. Only a gullible lay person would swallow such drama. The most unfortunate part is that a misinformed director has given one of Britain's men exactly what he wanted; glorification at the expense of his victims.

In one of the most frightening and downright crazy lead turns of the year, Tom Hardy ignites the screen in the British independent film, Bronson. Based on the unbelievable true story and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, the at times bizarre film tells the story of Michael Peterson, played by Hardy, who robs a post office in 1974, to only get 26 pounds out of the deal, and is sentenced to four years in prison. A four year stay has turned into a thirty-four year prison term, thirty of which has been spent in solitary confinement. The man, which the British press calls 'the most violent prisoner in Britain," is one of the most complex, and highly disturbing characters to be depicted on screen this year. He always wanted to famous, Hardy states with such charisma at the opening of the film, but he can't sing, he can't dance, so he creates an alter ego during his time as a boxer prior to his prison sentence. Though the film is loosely based on the real man and his story, it doesn't matter, Refn treats the film with such artistic integrity and takes chances that most directors hope to accomplish in their careers. The narrative, though over-whelming at times, is unyielding in the manner in which it's told. For the most part however, Tom Hardy's gritty and aggressive performance will go down as one of the best kept secrets of 2009. In watching the picture, the co-stars are nearly invisible as Hardy takes control of the screen and your attention. He enables the viewer to devote their time and energy with fear of severe consequences in not doing so. Hardy is an incredible talent and not sure if you'll see a more devoted actor to a character on film this year. Refn's choice of music that fills the scenes with torment, discomfort, and sheer violence is a brilliance shown in his armor. Bronson is pure entertainment, and though it doesn't provide any moral or social significance in the acts of our lives, it's an admiral effort by British cinema. ***/****

This is a fantastic depiction of Charles Bronson, born Michael Peterson, Britain's most infamous and notorious prisoner. Director Nicholas Winding Refn invites us into Bronson's imagination, with parts of the film shot from the perspective of him being on stage in front of an adoring audience. The rest of the film is a dramatization of Bronson's life and times in prison. Bronson was initially incarcerated for seven years for the robbery of a post office where he stole £26.18. However he has spent 34 years in prison and psychiatric wards so far, and is still there, spending 30 of them in solitary confinement. He has been involved in fighting, brawls and hostage taking which led to his increased sentence, and he seems to enjoy it. No lives have been lost. This is an excellent performance from Tom Hardy –funny, thoroughly engaging and intense. He physically transformed himself for this role and obviously studied Bronson vigorously to accurately portray his mannerisms. A thoroughly compelling film. A must see!