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Bronson (2008)

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Time Out rating

Average user rating

36 reviews

Synopsis

Danish director Winding Refn (best known for his 'Pusher' trilogy) tackles the life of Charlie Bronson, a violent jailbird from Luton

Movie review

From Time Out London

Since 1974, Michael Peterson, who uses the name of ‘Death Wish’ actor Charles Bronson, has been free from jail for only two short periods. The Luton-bred hard man first got seven years for robbery; most of the rest he accrued in prison for crimes ranging from kidnap to GBH.

The makers of this new film, in which Tom Hardy plays Peterson, offer a stylised, sympathy-craving portrait of the man, but it’s a shoddy and morally nasty film that leaves a terrible taste in the mouth. It takes us from Peterson’s childhood to the present via episodes in his life such as his incarceration in a mental hospital and the kidnapping of a prison art teacher. Much of it consists of brief, self-consciously arty but ultimately artless tableaux bolstered by voiceover or music, which betrays a flimsy, show-and-tell approach to filmmaking.

There are imaginary interludes of Bronson entertaining in a music hall, but these just suggest that Bronson craves fame: nothing too incisive there, then. One laughable sequence set at a prison party suggests an A Level theatre studies project after an outing to see ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’.

There’s a fatal tension between film and script: Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (‘Pusher’, ‘Bleeder’) brashly channels Kubrick, with slowmo tracking shots set to obvious classical or choral music and looking to lend poetry to violence, while Brock Norman Brock’s pedestrian scenario is forever apologising for Peterson’s behaviour. Brock suggests that it doesn’t matter if Bronson tries to kill or kidnap someone as long as that person is a paedophile or, in the case of the teacher, a fluffy liberal who peppers his speech with Spanish.

Hardy delivers a committed if showy performance, but there are some awful smaller turns which smell dangerously of homophobia. The whole thing made me want to scrub my brain with Vim.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2009-03-10 10:22:33

Time Out London issue 2012, Mar 12-18 2009

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User reviews of this film

dan patterson said...

Posted on Jan 26 2010 01:25 Where did you lot at Time Out london pick up this Dave Calhoun guy from, he actually makes money making his fevered rantings? firstly at what point was it craving sympathy? you then contradicted this by saying it was morally nasty, and that it leaves a nasty taste in your mouth( i'm ignoring sloppy, cause at no part in the film is it sloppy). you utter moron, it's a film about a mental guy in prison who paints swastika's on the walls in blood, its going to leave a nasty taste in the mouth with possible homophobic notions, it's supposed to be gritty, and yes theatrical, but its not a fucking pantomime. i personally think this is one of the best directed films i've seen for along time. The direction in photography is amazing, the musical direction counter pointed with build ups and releases of tension are spot on, especially with its use of classical music. and the comical narrated bits clearly help express the insane appearance of this guy's mind being played out to "normal" people. this film cannot be compared to chopper, in that they are both directed with completely different intensions in mind. this is an art house film, a very good art house film, but thats what you have to remember when going to see it. if you like straight cut fast paced hollywood action films than this probably isn't the right film for you.
think clockwork orange, if you hated that than you'll probably hate this.
awesome piece film making, five stars.

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Nick Cooley said...

Posted on Nov 26 2009 11:47 tryhard direction... tryhard story line... you want a grwat movie about a hard man prisioner? Get CHPPOER. UKs tryhard attempt at CHOPPER is this film ... what a joke. All you see is 400 fights of him going the cops. The comedy is weak and there is no storyline just weirdness that is meant to be artistic that some so called artistic people will call creative.

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Stanza said...

Posted on Nov 25 2009 13:01 This is the most boaring, pretencious film I have had the misfortune to see in some time. No story worth telling. If I could I would give it a zero star rating. Remove from your list and watch Fightclub or Beowolf instead.

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Paul said...

Posted on Nov 06 2009 21:02 The movies intention is let down by it's failing to portray Charlie Bronson properly,if at all. Because personally i found tom hardy to be too funny a character,very comical expressions which i assume were meant to be perplexed,at one point i likened him to the character Alf Garnett from sitcom In Sickness and in health,even more so when he visits uncle and struggles with opening gate.I don't agree with the review written by the complete snob with more interest in the presentation of the review rather than the content, do your job properly and don't compare a scene from a fairly good film like bronson to masterpiece like ofocn,it shows you jumped at opportunity to make the obvious comparison,which most probably noticed for themselves i'm sure.It's a good watch but as mentioned above it didn't hit on why exactly Bronson could only express through violence but rather paints modern day picture of prison being home for so many

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Dave said...

Posted on Oct 16 2009 22:57 A Comedy Classic.

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bob smith said...

Posted on Aug 25 2009 19:17 I always used to believe a good Time Out review. How wrong could you be about this film. You gave it one star the general public gave it an average of 3. People read these reviews and make their minds up as to seeing the film or not. If I were the film company I'd sue your arse as it would have lost them money. A British film company as well. I bet if it was a big Hollywood film company production the reviews would be more favourable. I for one (and I'm not alone here) will not trust a Time Out review again. You have disgraced yourselves on this one.

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mel green said...

Posted on Aug 16 2009 17:57 Im somewhat surprised at Times outs review as I found Hardys performance engaging and the 'one flew..' scene quite interesting. But im not a trained critic and enjoyed learning more about the notoriety surrounding Bronson which may have coloured my view.But it cant be denied that Hardy puts in a brilliant performance despite the motives of the script.

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sam gibson said...

Posted on Jul 11 2009 11:08 i was looking forward to seein this film but now i have seen it in think its shit! never heard of the guy who directed it but he should try summat different. i have not read the autobiography but i imagine that if the film had been made more similar to the book it would have been better! bored out my skull watchin load of shit!!!!!!!!

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keren curran said...

Posted on Jul 11 2009 01:17 brilliant film,well worth watching,i feel sorry for charlie

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Charlton said...

Posted on Jul 09 2009 13:21 Total MINCE! Read his biography 2 years ago and quite enjoyed it, but this is awfull! Don't waste your time!

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Chris said...

Posted on Jun 17 2009 04:20 Have not yet seen the movie, but read charlie's autobigraphy. He is not an animal, a savage or scumbag. Has never raped or killed... but he has been behind bars, in a small cell for 30+ years with nobody but himself to talk to. He hasn't laid a finger on anyone for 9 years now, i hope they let him out soon.

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PETER FILE said...

Posted on Jun 06 2009 12:45 THIS IS THE WORST FILM I HAVE SEEN.. CAN I HAVE MY 90 MINUTES BACK PLS.! :O(

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rob said...

Posted on Jun 02 2009 07:01 Bronson is dangerous and violent man who should rightly be behind bars (in case you didn't notice he is)!
Art to me is a less literal way of understanding the human condition than a purely scientific assessment. Art should never pretend to be be unbiased and in certain circumstances SHOULD be challenging to our accepted notions of moraliy etc. As such I found this film fascinating and compelling.
If there are idiots out there who would like to emulate Bronson at least the movie does not shy away from depicting the fact that 30 years of solitary confinement will be the likely result.

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Thom said...

Posted on Apr 04 2009 19:28 I'm not easily offended, nor am I small minded. I thought the violence in this film wasn't too bad, nor was I offended by it. I did, however, think it was one of the most utterly shit films I've ever seen in my entire life.

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Miss G said...

Posted on Mar 30 2009 12:29 Read the book and was quites disturbed to be honest. I think a man expressing himself the only way he knows how does not deserve 34 years in prison. God Bless Charles Bronson! All you synical people should think more about what 34 years has done to his mind and why he is the way he is. All over £27. You all call him an animal because of it. Get over yourselves. You and your kids have probably done worse.

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