Product Details

• Actors: Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, David Bradley, Charlie Creed-Miles, Iain Glen
• Directors: Daniel Barber
• Writers: Gary Young
• Producers: Christos Michaels, David Higginson, Keith Bell, Kris Thykier, Matthew Brown
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: August 31, 2010
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003T6LHWC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,416 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Harry Brown" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With its themes of rampant urban decay and crime, mistreatment of the elderly, and vigilantism, Harry Brown will inevitably be compared to earlier movies from Death Wish to Gran Torino. The comparisons are apt, but with the able assistance of Michael Caine in the title role, director Daniel Barber and screenwriter Gary Young's tale stands on its own, grimly but compellingly. Caine's Harry Brown, a retiree and former marine, lives alone in a flat in a decrepit London council estate, spending his time visiting his comatose wife in the hospital, playing chess at the local pub with his only friend (David Bradley), and gazing out at the quotidian violence and drug dealing carried out with virtual impunity by the insolent young thugs and lowlifes on the estate grounds. It's a lonely existence that only gets sadder when his wife dies and his pal is murdered; and when the police inform him that nailing those responsible will be next to impossible, Harry turns dirty. His first killing is in self-defense, but once he gets hold of a gun (obtained from a dealer-junkie in a nightmarishly vivid scene), it is on, as our "vigilante pensioner" takes no prisoners in his pursuit of street justice. The cops, who are mostly depicted as clueless and thoroughly inept, assume the local gangs are responsible; only Detective Inspector Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer), about the only one with a brain and a heart, suspects Harry, and she plays an important role as the film careens towards its operatically brutal climax. The scenes of violence are intense but very well staged, and the film's overall look and downbeat color palette effectively convey the sense of squalid hopelessness permeating this stratum of British existence. Harry Brown isn't a lot of fun, but it will stick with you. --Sam Graham

Product Description

Set in modern day Britain, Harry Brown follow's one man's journey through a chaotic world where drugs are the currency of the day and guns run the streets. A modest law-abiding citizen, Harry Brown is a retired Marine and a widower who lives alone on a depressed housing estate. His only company is his best friend Leonard (David Bradley). When Leonard is murdered by a gang of thugs, Harry feels compelled to act and is forced to dispense his own brand of justice. As he bids to clean up the run-down estate where he lives, his actions bring him into conflict with the police, led by investigating officer DCI Frampton (Emily Mortimer) and Charlie Creed-Miles.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

168 of 175 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Caine Goes Where Clint Wouldn't June 16, 2010

By darklordzden

Format:DVD

London, The Present: Elderly pensioner Harry Brown lives a largely solitary existence on a sinkhole council housing estate in London where drug dealing and recreational violence are the norm and disaffected hoodie-wearing teenage criminals (or "chavs" as we call them in the UK - a word derived from the acronym of "Council Housed And Violent") treat the ugly concrete canyons as a combination of a playground and the gladiatorial arena. Harry, despite a once prestigious career in the Royal Marines, is an affable, peaceful man who keeps himself to himself; literally going out of his way to avoid confrontation on a daily basis. But when a tragic series of events results in the death of one of his dearest friends, Harry finds himself inexorably drawn onto a collision course with the violent criminal elements that have terrorized the estate.

Harry Brown is not a perfect film, but it is an important one. It's probably the only film that realistically deals with the reality of the plight of the elderly and vulnerable at the hands of what has now become an epidemic of casual violent criminality in the UK. Make no bones about it, the England that you see in this film is far closer to the reality of living in a major British city than the Richard Curtisesque fluff-pieces (such as Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)) that are exported abroad in the hope of drumming up UK tourism. The failure of successive post-war UK governments to deal with an ailing education and law enforcement system has led to the reassertion of almost Dickensian levels of violence, poverty and hopelessness, and, as a British expat now living in Australia, I experienced an old familiar sinking feeling as I observed the frighteningly well-realised portrait of an increasingly dystopian Britain. Take it from one who knows - this is as real as it gets.

The tone of the film itself is an odd mixture of the jarringly realistic and the satirically surreal: the scenes depicting the recreational thuggery of the chavs are frighteningly on-the-money, while the scenes with the buttoned-down, pathologically polite and well-spoken police chief appear to be satirical jabs at authority's completely inability to cope with the escalating social problems of modern Britain. The tone of the film is somewhere between the work of Ken Loach, Death Wish (indeed, this film is far more in keeping with the spirit of Brian Garfield's novel than the original Bronson vehicle) and Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (Two-Disc Special Edition).

The acting is divided into two camps: Caine has never given a finer performance and the character's mordant sense of quiet sadness and desperation is palpable from the moment that we first see him open his eyes after a restless night. Brown, despite his eventual descent into violence, is never anything but a victim and Caine really does deserve an Oscar for his beautifully judged turn as an Emphysemic everyman caught between a rock and a hard place. Similarly, plaudits must go to the young actors playing the teen criminals, as well as massively underrated UK actor, Sean Harris, for his brief, scene-stealing cameo as an emaciated, homicidal, heroin addict who inhabits a hovel that far surpasses the worst fever dreams of De Quincey. By way of juxtaposition however, Emily Mortimer's performance as a police woman attempting to get to the bottom of the violence dogging the film's sinkhole estate is something of a damp squib. It could be that this is another satirical jab at the "touchy feely" modern metropolitan police force on the part of the director though.

Harry Brown is a film that will divide audiences. I observed an old chap, who sat near me in the cinema, informing the girl at the refreshment kiosk that "the world needs more men like Harry Brown"; Several seconds later, a young, coiffured film studies student who had also been in the screening, and who was clearly acquainted with the same kiosk girl, informed her that "it was a load of simplistic crap". There are many people who will be of the latter opinion and yet more who will write it off as nothing more than a right-wing vigilante wet-dream. Then again, most of the liberal intelligentsia who have already espoused the latter opinion have never had to live in a place where the police turn up mob-handed or not at all. For those of us who have walked a mile in Harry's shoes though, regardless of our opinions on vigilantism, it is not a film that is so easily dismissed.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Caine Shines in Dark & Gritty Revenge Flick April 23, 2010

By Compay TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

Harry Brown is more "The Crow" than "Death Wish", as his vigilante behavior is mostly motivated by revenge. Whereas the Bronson film explores a man fed up with criminals in general, Harry's anger is largely focused on those connected to his friend's death. Another similarity is a subplot involving Emily Mortimer (Redbelt) as an investigator who suspects Brown is more than just a bystander to the killings.

The film slowly heats to a boil until its halfway mark, when it begins to explore very gritty and violent situations. From the moment Harry attempts to buy his first gun, the movie pulls you in and never lets go. The film offers a few minor twists, and though the story isn't especially original, a terrific performance by Michael Caine easily carries it the distance.

The cinematography is great, and the soundtrack is very stark and haunting most of the time. My only real complaint is that the use of CGI for certain scenes of violence was unnecessary.

The only reason I'm giving Harry Brown four stars instead of five, is that the concept isn't very original. But it's still a very interesting look at a man who has reached his tipping point, played by an excellent veteran actor. This is a film worth watching for Caine's performance alone.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The living hell of (some) urban lives August 2, 2010

By still searching

Format:DVD

Harry Brown, played brilliantly by Michael Caine, is a pensioner and ex-marine living on a run down housing estate somewhere in the east end of London, who can't take the shortest route to visit his ailing wife in hospital because it involves passing through an underground walkway frequented by louts in `hoodies' and their girlfriends. His wife no longer recognizes his presence and his one remaining solace is playing chess with long-term friend and near neighbour Len.

One day, in their local - the venue for their chess games - Len reveals to Harry how he is being terrorised by local yobs and how much he lives in fear. Harry advises him to go to the police but Len decides to take matters into his own hands, with a predictable result. From this moment on a series of tragic and horrifying incidents convinces Harry that, if the police appear powerless, `natural' justice demands payment and he sets about making it happen.

This is a brilliantly realized depiction of the hell in which some people are forced to try to live out their lives; particularly, the ill, the lonely and the elderly. The film plays, obviously, on the prejudices of those watchers who have lived under similar circumstances. It makes no excuse for the excess of violence and does not seek to justify the social and economic deprivation that might explain it but it definitely is an accurate reflection of some aspects of urban life on some run down housing estates: it's not a documentary or social commentary, just a good old-fashioned piece of brilliant British film making showcasing the extraordinary abilities of a range of home-grown acting talents (witness the two druggy gun dealers!) including the national treasure that is Michael Caine.