Spoiler Review - Harry Brown

Harry Brown from start to finish is an action packed, suspenseful thriller. The film is directed by Daniel Barber. It stars Michael Caine in the lead role of an elderly vigilante (Harry Brown) who takes the law into his own hands when his best friend Leonard Attwell (David Bradley) is brutally murdered by   viscous youths. The film introduces the main setting of the council estate with a wide shot and all that is associated with the estate is shown quite graphically: drug dealing & abuse, violence, a police state, rape and youth crime. Harry Brown is quite a unique thriller as although it is set in an adult world it is an estate rather than the typical 'big' city, and teenagers have a key involvement in the films storyline, which is not typical of a thriller.

Harry Brown previously served in the royal marines at Northern Ireland, and when his best friend Leonard asks about it Harry is very secretive saying 'I was a different person back then'. The control of the estate being within the hands of the youth is shown early on as Harry looks down at the quicker short cut of a tunnel that the thugs gather in, but walks past on to the main road as he knows the consequences of going through the tunnel. The actual tunnel area is always pitch black to keep the activities going on it secretive, another thing that is typical of a thriller.

The theme of violence is constantly shown though the film in quite a vivid way. Only 9 minutes into the film and the second violent scene (the first being yobs shooting a woman for fun), is shown in the estate of a man being brutally beaten by a group of youths and his wife shouting at them helplessly as they run away. The man is left lying with blood around him and Harry watches on through his window, knowing he cannot help at all.
                                                                             
Leonard before he dies tells Harry about his worries regarding the area and the youths he has encountered, this creates mystery. It gives the audience an expectation of a significant event that is to happen, but what is it? Leonard reveals he is carrying around a bayonet for protection. Later on the yobs go and set fire to Leonard's apartment and he comes out shouting at them, they then stab him to death.

After his best friends death, Harry begins his vendetta of violence, to take revenge. The typical crime thriller characters of detectives are also involved in the film: D.I Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer), D.S Terry Hicock (Charlie Creed-Miles) and S.I. Childs (Iain Glen) are the detectives involved in the murder case of Leonard Attwell. The detectives ask Harry on Leonard's
death and also inform him that because Leonard had the bayonet with him upon his death, the charges regarding his case could be lowered to man slaughter based on self defence. from The film is more of a gritty suspenseful thriller rather than a crime thriller. Another character who isn't really important until the end is Sid Rourke (Liam Cunningham) who Harry visits often and is the bartender.

The thugs that control the estate are: Noel Winters (Ben Drew), Marky (Jack O'Connell) and Carl (Jamie Downey). Stretch (Sean Harris) and his partner Kenny (Joseph Gulgun) are the drug dealers in the area. Harry on his return to his previous soldier lifestyle goes to the drug dealers to buy a gun, after just being threatened with a knife then turning the knife on the drug addict. The use of constant dark lighting with tension building music is what makes the film a thriller rather than a drama. Harry then kills both the dealers and takes a load of guns, then rescues a woman who was being sexually abused by the dealers. Harry when about to kill one of the dealers says 'you failed to maintain your weapon son'. Then he has a monologue regarding one of his Marine partners dying in a similar way the dealer is, then releases the trigger. This foreshadows that this is Harry's revolt against all the reckless estate troublemakers. Blood in the film is presented very vividly, similar to a horror film but the choice of not using close-ups on the blood allows the film to not be classed as a horror. This is also the start of his role of a vigilante and his return to his past of being a Marine, rather than being a soldier in Ireland fighting a war he is a vigilante fighting against his own countrymen.  Several shots are shown of the tunnel, and this creates mystery on what significance the tunnel has and whether Harry will ever walk through it. All camera shots that show the tunnel involve some deep suspenseful ambient music used with it to add the mysterious theme to the tunnel. The mystery is later revealed as this is were Harry's best friend Leonard was viscously murdered and then pissed on by the thugs and Harry sees this on a camera phone taken by one of the thugs he captures and interrogates 'Marky'. This adds to Harry's anger and furthermore motivates him to continue on his quest for revenge. A shoot-out scene between Harry and the youths occurs in which he shoots Marky and Carl, but Noel escapes. This scene is very on the edge of your seat stuff, with very dark lighting and the use of rhythmic editing is done well as the tension building music is simultaneous with the actions of the characters. It is also in the tunnel Harry previously fears to enter. Through Harry's action of entering the tunnel this shows how he no longer has fears the estate gang . The rest of Harry's motive is then revealed to kill Noel, but some U-turns also occur to keep the mystery of the film, a very iconic thing in a thriller.                                                                 The riot marks the end of the film in which parallel editing is used to alternate between the rioting and  the pub. This creates a lot of suspense as the audience are captivated regarding the resolution to the film. Harry after suffering from emphysema withdraws himself from the hospital on his quest to avenge Leonard and kill Noel, he rescues the two detectives D.I Alice Frampton and D.S Terry Hicock from a car crash in the estate, he takes them to the pub. Here another twist is revealed as Alice reveals to Harry that Sid Rouke the bartender is Noel's uncle. The audience up to this point see Sid and Harry to be friends but after this revelation it is clear that they are enemies, and inevitably one of them will be killed. This is first time the film changes from a major event occurring at the tunnel to a major occurring actually within the whole estate.  Through this the audience are less knowledgeable about what is about to happen creating an enigma for them to work out. The riot is continuously shown as it increases in intensity, and this raises the question when will it end? This also creates suspense by not knowing how much the level of violence will escalate to. The pub scene is surrounded with a lot of hostility, as it is clear Harry is up against both Sid and Noel, whilst also suffering with breathing difficulties due to his emphysema. The audience then begin to fill unjust as it looks undoubtedly that Harry is about to die, along with the two detectives that are powerless. Both detectives and Harry are brutally beaten up by both Noel and Sid.Then suddenly in Harry's last bit of energy he shoots Noel, but also gets shot by Sid. On the positive side Harry has finally accomplished everything he needed to by avenging Leonard. A smart use of the camera when the female detective tries to contact the police, and by not using a close-up on the phone the audience believe it not to be significant.                                                                      A lot of suspense is built up through the music used. Keeping you wondering what will happen next? Then suddenly as Sid is about to finish off Harry, we are reminded of the phone call one the detectives was making on police back-up in which Sid is shot before he can shoot Harry. Harry and the female detective then survive. The final scene is of Harry walking though the underground tunnel he previously wouldn't dare walk through.Law and order of the estate has been restored by a vigilante pensioner. The message of the film I got was the famous quote from Edmund Burke - 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil us that good men do nothing'. Harry  Brown was a good man who did something and therefore evil did not triumph.

Overall the film did have certain elements of horror and drama films, but with good use of location, lighting and music, it is a very satisfactory thriller. The film has a lot of high paced action with more accurate rather than stereotypical character portrayals along with having the mystery, suspense and conflict of a typical thriller. The conscious decision by the director Daniel Barber of not using the cliché' adult world of a thriller rather a council estate is also something I highly praise him for.

I give Harry Brown a rating of 4/5.