I must admit I expected a lot more from this film. A revenge film with Michael Caine, I thought 'great' a modern day 'Get Carter'. Sadly, this film comes nowhere near to being as good as the aforementioned film. Michael Caine was excellent and really put his heart and soul into getting into the character of Harry Brown. Unfortunately, Mr Caine was the only person who put on a decent performance, but the acting was the least of the problems here.
Firstly, there is the friendship between Harry (Caine) and Len Attwell (David Bradley). This friendship wasn't developed anywhere near as much as it should have been. There were maybe 2 scenes where they were together and in one of the scenes Len is talking to Harry about the gangs that are harassing him and he mentions to Harry that he wants to kill them and asks Harry to help.Harry refuses and tells Len to go to the police, but Len refuses as he says the police won't help him and that he needs to deal with the gang himself. Then in the next scene Ken is dead. In the scene prior to that, they are playing Chess and Harry is talking to Len about his wife Kath who had just died. The problem I had is that when Len died, I only felt sympathy in the way I would with someone I didn't know, whereas if Len's character was developed better we may have been able to feel more sympathy towards both him and Harry (if we got to know more about Len, we might have cared more for his character - I just didn't feel much of an emotional connection to Len I'm afraid). We also never learn why the gangs seemed to be targeting him? What were their reasons? Had Len upset them? I realise that sometimes yobs just strike for no reason, but it seems unlikely that they would go to such extremes as 'Fire bombing' his house for no reason.
The next major problem was the gangs and police investigations - pretty much straight after Len dies, the police go straight to the ring leader's house Noel (Ben Drew) seemingly with no prior investigation. Again, they may have already knew he was the ring leader, but perhaps they could have shown the police investigating (door to door enquiries, questioning other gang members prior to arresting Noel). This all just seemed rather rushed to me and I just felt that a gradual build up to discovering the ring leader would have held my interest more. All the scenes involving all the suspects that were questioned in the police station were a waste of time as it seemed like all the suspects that were brought in were released (and a couple of the gang were not seen again).
The incompetence of the police is pretty laughable as well - throughout most of the film Harry Brown goes on a 'one man' killing spree with very little investigation from the police. 2 of the 3 police officers investigating refuse to believe that Harry Brown has anything to do with the killings - even though he has a motive, has various weapons in his house (which the police are aware of) and he is no stranger to killing and seeing others get killed.
There were a few good moments - Michael Caine's performance was fantastic and we get treated to the odd classic one liner here and there such as 'You've failed to service your weapon properly' when a drug dealer tries to shoot him, but can't fire and then Harry shoots him. It's not quite as iconic as 'You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off' but it was a highlight in an otherwise average film.
To sum up, Harry Brown felt a bit rushed and would certainly have benefited from a bit more character development. I would only recommend watching Harry Brown if there is nothing else on. If you want to watch a good revenge film watch 'Death Sentence' which is far superior.
Firstly, there is the friendship between Harry (Caine) and Len Attwell (David Bradley). This friendship wasn't developed anywhere near as much as it should have been. There were maybe 2 scenes where they were together and in one of the scenes Len is talking to Harry about the gangs that are harassing him and he mentions to Harry that he wants to kill them and asks Harry to help.Harry refuses and tells Len to go to the police, but Len refuses as he says the police won't help him and that he needs to deal with the gang himself. Then in the next scene Ken is dead. In the scene prior to that, they are playing Chess and Harry is talking to Len about his wife Kath who had just died. The problem I had is that when Len died, I only felt sympathy in the way I would with someone I didn't know, whereas if Len's character was developed better we may have been able to feel more sympathy towards both him and Harry (if we got to know more about Len, we might have cared more for his character - I just didn't feel much of an emotional connection to Len I'm afraid). We also never learn why the gangs seemed to be targeting him? What were their reasons? Had Len upset them? I realise that sometimes yobs just strike for no reason, but it seems unlikely that they would go to such extremes as 'Fire bombing' his house for no reason.
The next major problem was the gangs and police investigations - pretty much straight after Len dies, the police go straight to the ring leader's house Noel (Ben Drew) seemingly with no prior investigation. Again, they may have already knew he was the ring leader, but perhaps they could have shown the police investigating (door to door enquiries, questioning other gang members prior to arresting Noel). This all just seemed rather rushed to me and I just felt that a gradual build up to discovering the ring leader would have held my interest more. All the scenes involving all the suspects that were questioned in the police station were a waste of time as it seemed like all the suspects that were brought in were released (and a couple of the gang were not seen again).
The incompetence of the police is pretty laughable as well - throughout most of the film Harry Brown goes on a 'one man' killing spree with very little investigation from the police. 2 of the 3 police officers investigating refuse to believe that Harry Brown has anything to do with the killings - even though he has a motive, has various weapons in his house (which the police are aware of) and he is no stranger to killing and seeing others get killed.
There were a few good moments - Michael Caine's performance was fantastic and we get treated to the odd classic one liner here and there such as 'You've failed to service your weapon properly' when a drug dealer tries to shoot him, but can't fire and then Harry shoots him. It's not quite as iconic as 'You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off' but it was a highlight in an otherwise average film.
To sum up, Harry Brown felt a bit rushed and would certainly have benefited from a bit more character development. I would only recommend watching Harry Brown if there is nothing else on. If you want to watch a good revenge film watch 'Death Sentence' which is far superior.