You know, when geriatrics and such start getting vigilante, it does sound ridiculous. But when Clint Eastwood did it in Gran Torino... I actually thought how scared I would be if Eastwood came after me with a Rifle. As I'm writing this, I just read a report in Germany where a few pensioners, pissed off about losing their savings in the Economic Crisis, went after their financial manager, kidnapped him and tortured him for 4 days. Okays.... best not to piss off the elderly. (just to mention one of my bosses' is a master in White Crane Kung Fu! That means he'll fuck anyone up! o___O!!!)
And now, the original English Bad Boy Michael Caine steps up to dish out payback as Harry Brown (how very English and coincidental to Eastwood's famous character) a pensioner who recently became a widower, and all he has left in life is his life and his best friend.
Young thugs start to terrorize the streets of London, and Harry tries to turn a blind eye to the trouble. But when his best friend is killed standing up to the gang, the police unable to conduct an investigation due to internal politics, Harry loses his cool and sets to hand out his version of justice.... albeit his version stemming from his past, when he was a highly decorated Royal Marine Commando.
With nothing really to live for but teaching the youth a lesson the hard way, Harry struggles against his prey, his age and the young Detective who is pursuing the "vigilante".
This is a clear cut and dark movie. Violence is part of the natural order of things, so if you got a problem with that, then don't bother watching.
But what makes this movie work is the simplicity of all things. It intertwines the cold hard realities (yes reality) of youth violence, drugs and alcohol and how it is getting out of control - to the loneliness and impending age of death faced by Harry.... his losses and age makes him realize the fact he has nothing to lose by taking on the gang, his life not worth anything, with everything he loves, gone. The ugliness and waste of life is the real image here... nothing is clean in this movie, the bloodstains will never wash out.
The film goes from sterile, pure white to a dirty dark, menacing look, and in the middle of this is a white haired Harry Brown dressed in black like an avenging angel cleaning up the hood with a cold ugly rage only matched by the fierce, red hot temper of Eastwood's Walt Kowalski. There's no happy ending to this story, rather more a symbol of hope and encouragement that justice will prevail in the end. It does remind me of that line "Evil is victorious when good men do nothing."
Its a cold, haunting movie, a performance orientated flick to which Caine carries beautifully. While not up there with Gran Torino, Caine is a loved and respected actor, and his talent is what makes this quality.
After watching it again, I realised that there was more to this film than a typical Seagal flick. For starters, its his first major hit and it also set the standard for the 90's cop thriller drama. Dont expect this to be an action movie, its a cold hard thriller with Seagal for the first time showing his red hot temper and devestating his opponents as he battles a shadowy CIA group dealing drugs and weapons from South America and into the US. Framed, harrassed and finally marked for assassination, Seagal plays Nico, a diamond hard cop and special ops veteran who crosses the path of his old enemies from Vietnam and the black group who believe themselves to be untouchable.
With a good cast and helmed by Andrew Davis (Under Seige and The Fugitive) it is a plot worth thinking about as you dont know how the pieces fit together until the latter part of the movie, so its not a typical dmub story, its got meaning and a moral, which is expressed through Seagal's script and narrative.
Very modern and slicker than your average movie, this one is worth watching, dont dismiss it as a cheap Seagal flick, its probably one of his best.
When I first came on Flixster, they didn't have this movie in its database. WTF???
Anywayz, about time!! This is Jackie's best action movie ever, and he did it all as well - acting, screenplay, action direction and director. Oh, of course - the stunts as well. :-)
Its a brillant piece of work - the definitive JACKIE movie - lots of action, a good plot, from which Jackie took fromm one if his dismal failures in the US, and made the idea into something legendary. Most of the action scenes from this movie has been copied time and time again into many other movies - a good example being the Shantytown stakeout car chase - which was copied into the climatic car chase in Bad Boys 2.
Jackie is one of Hong Kong's finest, trying his very best to take down a drug dealer. But things go crazy when he has to babysit the beautiful witness to th chagrin of his girlfriend, the bad guys are out looking for him, and to top it off, he is framed for murdering another officer. Lots of emotion and energy from this film - the final fight scene in the mall SPECTACULAR.
interesting facts - this movie was nicknamed GLASS STORY by the stuntmen - and if you watch it, you'll see why. And apparently so many people, including the main man himself, got injured and were rushed to hospital. And after this movie, no insurance company will work with Jackie - so pretty much he foots the medical bills and everything himself.
And despite all that - this is one of the best movies ever made.
Marlon Brando is the Godfather, the wisest, most loved and repsect Don of the times, his power and authority from New York to Sicily. We enter the world of his family, his trials and tribulations, how lifes are intertwined under his shroud, and how they are destroyed, and how others grow. Though despite being one of the most feared men that ever lived, The Don knows he is not immortal, and an attempt on his life throws his "cosca" in a bloody war in which there are many casualties.... and knowing that to save his Family, he must stop the war through his power and honor.... but in his mind he is preparing his youngest son, the exiled and indepedant Michael Corleone, to take his place and reignite the power of the Corleone family and bring justice to those who crosses the Godfather and his Family.
Flawless......... movie. I would criticise it for not being a 5 hour epic which followed the book, but the Godfather 2 pretty much told the rest of the story, and that was near flawless as well.
Marlon Brando obivously made the movie, but in my mind, Al Pacino and James Caan were the big guns. These two always light up the screen, Pacino, with his quiet intensity and presence, in opposite to the raging war monger James Caan, the Underboss of the Family.
So many contrasts, so many shades of grey, so many stories, lives and so much death... you would feel if you have entered the 1940's to 50's period as well. Its engaging in the sense that even though this is a work of fiction, it shows us that these people do exist and this is what happens. Its tale of reality in the underworld, literally. An Underworld, a world which is not our own, and admit it, we are all curious to explore.
Harry Brown
Unrated
Above the Law
R
Ging chaat goo si (Police Story) (Jackie Chan's Police Force)
R
The Godfather
R
