Product Details

• Actors: Tom Hardy
• Directors: Nicolas Winding Refn
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: February 9, 2010
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002XTXG1G
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #3,452 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

  #88 in

  Movies & TV > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense

• For more information about "Bronson (Widescreen Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Tom Hardy's performance in the lead role burns right through Bronson, the somewhat true tale of a real guy who, once the movie finishes, you'll be very glad is still locked up in an English jail. There's no obvious reason why Michael Peterson became what he proudly calls "Britain's most violent prisoner." His upbringing was normal, his parents meek but loving; he was even married with a child when, in 1974, he attempted a robbery that landed him in the slammer for the first time. Peterson saw this as "an opportunity to sharpen my tools" and make a name for himself; and that he did, eagerly taking on half a dozen guards at once and regularly spending time in solitary confinement (at one point for 69 straight days). A stint in "the loony bin," where he killed another patient, followed, as did incarceration in a hospital for the criminally insane, a brief period on the outside (having been "certified sane," he went to live in an uncle's whorehouse, found work as a prizefighter, and fell in love), and then a permanent return to prison, where he decided to change his name to Charlie Bronson (after the American actor) and, improbably, became a pretty decent painter (a climactic scene with his art teacher perversely invokes the Belgian artist René Magritte). Not all of this really happened, but director and cowriter Nicolas Winding Refn's film is hardly a documentary; with its saturated color palette, surreal framing devices (Bronson tells some of his tale to a rapt audience in a large theater), and frequent use of black humor, this is a highly stylized and often strange piece of work. Hardy, who has also been seen in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and will be in George Miller's fourth Road Warrior epic, delivers an extreme performance; sporting a shaved head and a John L. Sullivan handlebar mustache, he is a credible if occasionally cartoonish presence, a leering, profane, joyously violent cockney madman. Extras include interviews, a making-of documentary, and a featurette detailing the extremely buff Hardy's training for the role. --Sam Graham

Product Description

BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF ONE OF THE WORLD S MOST VIOLENT PRISONERS
In 1974, a misguided 19-year-old named Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself, and so with a homemade sawn-off shotgun and a head full of dreams, he attempted to rob a post office. Swiftly apprehended and originally sentenced to seven years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. Provocative and stylized, BRONSON follows the metamorphosis of Mickey Peterson, who gave himself the nickname Charles Bronson, from a petty thief into Britain's most dangerous prisoner.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, humerous, and brutal, February 12, 2010

By	N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Bronson [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Everyone has heard of Charles Bronson. Well, THAT Charles Bronson anyway, the title character here is definitely a far cry from the hardened film hero of the same name. This Charlie Bronson was originally born Michael Peterson, who despite having a decent upbringing, grew up to be a criminal, and much, much more surprisingly. Known as Britain's most notorious prisoner, Bronson manages to capture the ferocity of the man with tongue-in-cheek humor and sheer unpredictable moments. Tom Hardy, who has been in quite a bit ranging from Star Trek: Nemesis, Layer Cake, and Rocknrolla among others, gives a star-making performance that should be seen to be believed. Besides undergoing a physical transformation in bulking up, Hardy's performance may very well be akin to what Eric Bana managed to do some years ago with Chopper, in which he ironically enough, played famous prisoner Mark "Chopper" Read. All in all, though it definitely isn't for everybody, Bronson is wholeheartedly worth your time, mainly thanks to the ferocious performance of Tom Hardy, whose stardom should most definitely (and deservedly) be on the rise.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not To Be Compared, March 17, 2010

By	matinggames - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bronson [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

This is not a Hollywood movie. This is a theatrical interpretation of a man who stuck to his guns. No beginning, no end, just a chunk of this man's life layed out in a blur of violence and awkward moments. If you collect eccentric cinema as opposed to collector's editions of Hollywood Blockbusters then you may want to check this out. It's not the sharpest Blu-Ray image in town but this isn't one of those movies where that is important. Tom Hardy is amazing and creates a atmosphere where you're unsure of whether he is Bronson or re-telling the tale of Bronson. This is a Macho (which doesn't mean females shouldn't watch it) movie but even more so because these are events that took place as opposed to the Bourne Trilogy, which is good, but come on, this is what really happens when you go around beating everyone up; you go to jail.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bronson, February 11, 2010

By	Clinton Enlow (Kansas) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bronson [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Bronson was one of my favorite if not my favorite film from last year so it was an easy purchase to make this one of the first Blu-Rays I owned that I wasn't re-purchasing from DVD. Like its protagonist Bronson isn't an easy film to explain.
On one hand you can say its a biopic of Michael Peterson, a british prisoner who has rechristend himself in his fighting name of Charles Bronson and made a name for himself by causing riots and taking hostages so many times He's now serving a life sentence in his own prison to protect guards and other convicts from him. The movie isn't so simple though taking what I call a more gonzo approach to the idea of a biopic of a man who's so off kilter a personality. The best critics and even director Nicolas Winding Refn admit that the film is operating on different levels. The normal biopic features Peterson narrating his life, the story of young man who leads an existence engaging in fights at an early age until at nineteen He decides to rob a post office. He's sentenced to seven years in prison and once in decides to make the most of it engaing in fights and other violence.
Then theres another angle as Bronson puts on a suit, paints his face and narrates his life story to a crowd, telling jokes and basically as He says from his opening becoming famous through his actions as a prisoner. This is more the surreal aspect of the film exploring a duality between the personality and the person I found interesting. Even the lifestory reenactments seem to use a technique. The film opens on a vicious fight with a caged Bronson squaring off against six guards scored to a normal song that does provide the feeling of general disturbance of the man. Certain scenes want to show this reality while the movie switches soundtracks to a more classical score when Bronson is retelling his life becoming more of the showman He wants to be. We go from rock and roll to Wagner at the drop of a hat to emphasize a more larger than life quality to the story.
Refn's an interesting director who totatlly seems to have changed his direction from his films like the Pusher series which were more realistic compared to this. This change of tone and style definitely makes him a filmmaker I'm more interested in seeing after this film but I'll be remiss if I didn't mention Tom Hardy's performance. The film has become mainly recognized for Hardy's work reminiscent to Eric Bana as Mark Brandon Read in Chopper. Unlike Bana who became known outside of Australia because of Chopper though, Hardy's been working for nearly ten years in films like Black Hawk Down and Layer Cake. He's mostly been a character actor in small roles gaining some leads in other films. After this though I can definitely see this changing as He totally owns his role as Bronson. He bulked up considerably shaved his head, but more than that He has an almost animal intensity in the performance. He's funny, He's brash but at the end you do in a way see the wounded animal existing underneath the persona- again something reminiscent of Bana's performance in Bronson. I enjoyed Refn's direction but I can definitely recommend the film from the performance of the lead actor.
The film is a biopic of an interesting person that thankfully doesn't glorify the man. There is a free Bronson campaign but it never seems to argue for this idea. In the end its a entertaining film with great direction and an amazing performance. Like I said this is one of the first Blus I purchased so I'm not as good at others at judging picture and the like. I've heard some reviews that have said the pictures good but not great but to me the picture popped with an amazing ammount of sharpness and detail while still retaining a film like appearance. The sound though is spectacularly good benefiting the dialogue and music selection. Magnolia thankfully isn't a company that skimps on extras for either DVD or Blu-Ray and there is a great selection of features including a making of that includes some of Bronson's family, select interviews with Refn, Hardy and actor Matt King. Theres also a feature on training Tom Hardy as well as behind the scenes footage and everything is rounded out with recorded monologues from Charles Bronson himself. The last feature should be something interesting like interviews with Mark Read were on Chopper, but truthfully asides from the rambling nature the audio isn't very good.
Thats a good ammount of material rounding out an excellent disc. Like I said I loved the film and would definitely recommend the Blu Ray for fans of the movie. However you can see the movie though its a definite recommendation from me.