Harry Brown: The British answer to “Death Wish” and “Gran Torino” about retired Royal Marine Harry Brown (Michael Caine) who is tired of watching the decline of his housing area at the hands of criminal gangs (to say that the “estate” has gone to seed would be like saying that Flint, Michigan is in need of minor urban renewal). After one of his friends is murdered by the gang, Brown decides to take vengeance upon them, hunting down the youths responsible, as two detectives (Emily Mortimer and Charlie Creed-Miles) attempt to learn the truth about the death of Harry’s friend, all while trying to function in a failed police bureaucracy. Liam Cunningham and Iain Glen are here in support. Stark, depressing, and grim, like “Snatch” without the humor, the film does less to glamorize vigilantism than “Death Wish”, but is missing the crusty humanity of “Gran Torino”. Harry Brown is an emotional island long before we ever get to know him, and his journey is not one of redemption, but of calculated destruction. The ending is also a bit too pat, unless you can believe that one septuagenarian with a pistol can clean up an entire neighborhood in this day and age. The message here is muddled. Still it’s very watchable and Caine does great. Woodchuck sez, “Check it out.”
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