He’s a big man, but he’s in bad shape

Katerina Webb-Bourne finds this Get Carter re-tread predictable but enjoyable

Harry Brown- 1hr 37mins, 18

3/5

Michael Caine is back and he means business. The man himself is given perhaps one last chance to prove that he is still as hard as nails. Caine succeeds but the film has a faint stale air, as it invokes the spirit of Get Carter on the mean streets of Sarf London.

Caine is Harry Brown. Brown is an old widower (and more importantly an ex-marine) who is driven to extreme circumstances by the gang violence taking place on his estate. The final straw is the gruesome murder of his only companion by an apparently untouchable gang. The police appear helpless and ineffectual. So Brown takes the only path left to him: he turns vigilante and faces down each member one by one.

The films successes largely rely on Caine's performance. You may be thinking: an old man with emphysema taking on all the youths on an estate? Ridiculous! That's as may be but not with this man in the role. His understated performance and natural gravitas make you believe he is capable of anything. Pistol whipping included.�

Daniel Barber's direction certainly captures the violence of brutal mob mentality but he does a good job first of building a picture of a man on the edge, one step from taking the turn down the path to violent destruction.

Before the violence, Brown's life is devoid of any energy at all, he sits at tables alone, butters toast as a tap drips. Meanwhile, the world outside rages as it is overtaken by the animals on the estate.�

The gritty and the grimy nature of this world is perfectly captured by Barber's lens and the performance of the many unsavoury characters that inhabit are pitch perfect. Ben Drew (otherwise known as rapper Plan B) channels the venomous head of a gang. While Sean Harris as the itchy, scratchy junkie provides us with by far the best scene in the movie.

Brown descends into a junkies' house of horrors to buy the weapons with which he'll despatch the filth on his streets. It looks like a demented fun house, and the thudding soundtrack that is heard only as an undercurrent, fills the audience with a sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, it's not long before Brown has to blast his way out of the situation and a litter of bodies is left behind.

It is this unrelenting violence that damages the movie and its already fragile credibility. From the opening scenes of a gang initiation and the senseless murder of a young mother, the death and destruction rained upon the estate by the gangs is never ending. Yes we get that life here is hell on earth but the successive scenes used to make this point are too jammed together.

A beating, a carjacking, drug dealing, shot outs, sexual abuse, more beating, more drug dealing, more shooting. It is all constantly hammered into your head rather unsubtly.

Meanwhile, the police are still utterly useless and unable to do a thing. DI Frampton seems to be the only cop with cop-on and she's largely ignored. It's not long before the whole of south London is engulfed into a gang land war zone. Burnt out husks of cars and feral crowds included.

Barber's world is one drawn in stark blacks and whites.� It seems as if the movie wants to be a social commentary on life on estates today. However, it is neither clever enough nor balanced enough for this. It glorifies too much in the violence that it seems to be passing judgement on.

The lack of a message and the fact that Brown's acts of vigilantism remain unchallenged leave you with a bitter taste in the mouth. It is a well realised but uncomfortable ride that you're not sure you want to enjoy. Caine's character brushes off his most violent hour as quickly as these two should fade from your memories.

Katerina Webb-Bourne