Metal Mummy

At the weekend, our good friend Phil suggested he come over with a DVD this week sometime. After proposing to bring Harry Brown, I said it HAD to be on Monday, because I was working in the other evenings he was free, and I really wanted to watch that film. So, yesterday, he turned up, with a very bad copy of Harry Brown which James had an aversion to watching. He doesn’t like copied films because of the picture quality, and to be fair, it was all squished up to the point that you couldn’t read the opening credits. Whilst we waited in for pizza delivery, James popped over to Blocbuster and brought back the Blu-Ray of the film.

And my God, what a film. I have been wanting to watch it since it’s release last year. I had very high expectations of the film, and it didn’t let me down. I admire Michael Caine very much – I think he is an amazing actor, so the idea of him being the central character in a British film was exciting.

***Contains A Few Spoilers***

Michael Caine plays an ex-marine, Harry Brown, who is mourning is recently deceased wife. He lives alone, in a flat on the Elephant and Castle South London council estate, and witnesses the “kids” causing trouble on a daily basis. The film opens with a very well shot-from-a-video-camera-phone piece of filming, showing some of the stuff that the thugs get up to beneath the subway. During the film, his best friend, Leonard Atwell (played by David Bradley) shows Brown an old bayonet – he seems as though he wants to be some sort of vigilante and seek revenge on the thugs that are harrassing him, but Brown recommends he go to the Police. You see Atwell’s home being petrol-bombed, and him escaping, and the film cuts. The next morning, Harry receives the news that his friend has been assaulted and killed, and with the thugs claiming self defence, and no other evidence to pin the murder on them, Brown takes the law into his own hands.

It’s a truly fantastic film. The little touches that have been added make it spectacular. The fact that the Subway, although the quickest way across the road, is avoided by Harry because of the thugs that rule in there. So Harry glances at his quick route, but goes the longer way. The addition of some witty and comical lines are also excellent, and give a little giggle every now and again in an otherwise dark film. The soundtrack fits the film perfectly, and the bad language is well-within context.

The acting is fantastic. Not just by Caine, but also by the other cast members. The guys that play the thugs are scarily realistic. The one that really gets to me is the heroine-addict who provides Brown with a gun. He is horrible, smarmy and vile. You wonder if he is always that skinny, or whether he had to lose weight to play the part. Either way, out of all the characters, he really got to me.

The thing that makes this film brilliant, is how gritty and realistic it is. I’m a big fan of British movies – they are rarely over-done, and focus on British life a lot of the time. None of the over-production you see in the Hollywood realms. In this sense, I’m a huge fan of Shane Meadows, and now, this film, a feature debut by Daniel Barber. From the media, you know stuff goes on in the run-down innercity “sink” estates. You know gun crime and knife crime statistics are worryingly large. You question the thugs’ upbringing and this film shows that their upbringing isn’t that great, so you can see why they are the way they are. I’m not saying all thugs have bad upbringings, mind. It’s a very real scenario – elderly people being bullied and hurt by the younger generation – people being worried about leaving their homes, walking the wrong way, or going out at night. And you wonder why some elderly people have little respect for some younger adults.

Absolutely brilliant film which exceeded by expectations. Excellent filmography which made me jump a few times and left me on the edge of my seat with the hairs on my neck standing up. I was glued to the TV the whole way through and would watch it again for sure. One of the best films I’ve ever seen.

Brilliant.