Bronson (2009)

Charlie Bronson/Michael Peterson is quite a character. I'm told that the events and details in this film stray a little here and there from the truth, but all in all it makes for a quite entertaining look at one of the most violent prisoners in the UK's history. Actor Tom Hardy, who got amazingly buffed-up for this role, brings the right amount of humor, pathos, and dangerous zaniness to the title role.

You can't help but cheer for Charlie Bronson, though you will be glad you are doing it from a safe distance.

Bronson the man has quite a story. "Bronson" the movie is a tour-de-force of bravura and playful acting by Tom Hardy, and deserving of all its accolades. No one I have spoken with who saw this movie failed to be entertained by it.

Buy it, rent it, I don't care. Just watch it. [Big grin]

To say that lead actor Tom Hardy is gonzo-brilliant is nearly as understating as the complete overlooking of his performance throughout award season. Director Refn's approach here is as viscerally punctuated and artistically daring as anything in his excellent "Pusher Trilogy."

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Everyone has heard of Charles Bronson. Well, THAT Charles Bronson anyway, the title character here is definitely a far cry from the hardened film hero of the same name. This Charlie Bronson was originally born Michael Peterson, who despite having a decent upbringing, grew up to be a criminal, and much, much more surprisingly. Known as Britain's most notorious prisoner, Bronson manages to capture the ferocity of the man with tongue-in-cheek humor and sheer unpredictable moments. Tom Hardy, who has been in quite a bit ranging from Star Trek: Nemesis, Layer Cake, and Rocknrolla among others, gives a star-making performance that should be seen to be believed. Besides undergoing a physical transformation in bulking up, Hardy's performance may very well be akin to what Eric Bana managed to do some years ago with Chopper, in which he ironically enough, played famous prisoner Mark "Chopper" Read. All in all, though it definitely isn't for everybody, Bronson is wholeheartedly worth your time, mainly thanks to the ferocious performance of Tom Hardy, whose stardom should most definitely (and deservedly) be on the rise.

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"Bronson" is based on the real life of a man often referred to as "the most violent prisoner in Britain". "Charlie Bronson" is a moniker the prisoner (real name: Michael Peterson) assumed as a sort of stage name. According to the film, Peterson desired to be famous and went about garnering that fame by perpetuating heinously violent actions against other prisoners and prison guards.

The film is bloody, violent, disturbing, and incredibly effective. Tom Hardy is a powerhouse in the role in every sense of the word. He's an imposing figure to start. His powerfully built wrestler's physique makes the improbabilities of his physical altercations believable. He captures the audience's attention in a stranglehold of a performance, playing straight a role that could have easily turned into an insane human cartoon. Instead we watch a credibly complex sociopathic character unfold who is apparently choosy about upon whom he will wreck his carnage (primarily the heavily armed and numerous prison guards). His mirthless laughter at the beginning of the film puts the audience off-kilter, not quite able to regain balance until some time after the end credits roll. You're never quite sure what Hardy's Bronson is going to do next. He's so pitch perfect throughout the film, it's hard to take your eyes off this living disaster.

The film is essentially presented from Bronson's point of view, which lends itself to some strange storytelling considering his sociopathic bent. Some self-narrated fantasy asides are at first quite bizarre as they're occurring with Bronson telling his story on stage in full makeup. There is a heavy dose of A Clockwork Orange-style cinematography, especially when Bronson is committed to a truly bizarre mental institution. Again, this could be interpreted as Bronson's views of the situation, not how they actually were. There's also an odd measure of homo-eroticism in the film -Bronson seems to attract the attention of gay men, albeit never has any semblance of romantic reciprocation -and you'll see more than one fully nude shot of Tom Hardy's man-bits including a scene where he commandeers a male prison librarian to give him a full-body butter rubdown to make him more difficult to handle in the upcoming fight.

I couldn't quite put my finger on whether or not director Nicolas Winding Refn finds Bronson to be a sympathetic character (a little off-putting in itself), but it's obvious that Refn is fascinated with Bronson's complexities. One can't help but feel that Bronson deserves every last brutal beating he receives at the hands, feet, and batons of the prison guards, as he is presented as the exclusive instigator of each outpouring of violence. The last image of Bronson, bloodied and confined in a solitary cage, whimpering like a wounded animal, is bound to stick with you for a while.

Bronson is brutal, but fascinating to watch, walking a thin line that dispassionately presents a violent life without glorifying the perpetrator. It'll most likely make you uncomfortable, but then again, how else would you portray a guy who wanted to get famous by fashioning the persona of Britain's most violent prisoner?

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The best way to begin this review is by stating the overall feeling I got from this movie. In the hands of any less an actor than Tom Hardy, and with any less perfomance form his supporting cast, this movie probably wouldn't have been very good at all. But fortunately, every person rises magnificently to the task of filling the story with its offbeat, sleazy, and sometimes criminally dangerous characters, and turns this from a self-indulgent gore porn to something fascinating, a trip into a broken from birth mind.

Bronson is insane, haughty, and completely in love with himself. And while this isn't a new concept in movies for an antagonist, the strange wonder of this film is that Bronson is our protagonist (anti-hero, whatever you want to call him). But the kicker is that when you delve into his mind the way this film does, you realize two things: first, that there is no deep-seeded reason why he acts the way he does outside of making a name for himself and the sheer jollies he gets from it, and two, you don't really hate him for it. In fact, you feel like all the character wants is for you to hear his story and know it, and not going beyond that makes you able to make a lot of decisions on your own.

The pacing is good, the story told linearly, but its bizarre. In a good way, of course, but very very bizarre and violent, and darkly comedic. Bronson is a complex character who seems unreal, but still gets grounded in his own humanity form time to time, especially as he ages.

This movie is a must-see for Tom Hardy fans, but is not for the feint of heart. If you do watch it, be preparred for lots of violence, lots of really foul (to the point that it makes you laugh then feel bad about laughing), and LOTS of seeing Tom Hardy naked. Lots of it.

All in all, if you can take the brutal nature of this film, give it a shot. Not for everyone, but it was definently a movie for me.

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