If you haven't caught up with Michael Caine as Harry Brown yet,
the fact that it is now streaming on Amazon Prime may will allow you to
do so. It's time well- spent. At an age where most thespians were
comfortably retired, Caine was not only still a viable leading man when
the film was made, but a viable leading man in action films. Harry Brown was
released in 2009 and generated decent reviews and business in the UK,
but it received a blink-and-you'll-miss-it run in the USA. The film
consciously (some might say pretentiously) strives to bring Caine back
to the turf of one of his greatest films: the gritty 1971 crime classic Get Carter.
This film isn't of that caliber, but it represented Caine's strongest
role in years. He plays a quiet pensioner eaking out an existence in a
London housing estate that is beset with violence and terrorized by
omnipresent street gangs. In the early part of the film, Harry's beloved
wife of many years dies from an illness. Then his best friend is
murdered by the thugs. You don't have to be the Amazing Kreskin to
predict what happens next. Caine takes it upon himself to avenge his
friend's death and utilizes his training as a Royal Marine (he fought in
Korea) to reawaken his savage instincts. Slowly and methodically, he
hunts down the main culprits and dispenses his own brand of justice.
If this sounds like a geriatric Death Wish, it most certainly
is. However, the film is very moving on certain levels, as we watch this
likeable man of peace's world crumble around him. His trail of
vengeance is presented logically and he doesn't become a superman in the
process. The film is ably directed by Daniel Barber, who makes the most
of the locations at London's notoriously dreary Heygate Estate, which
has since been demolished. Caine is aided by a fine
supporting cast, with Emily Mortner especially good as a detective who
is assigned to stop the vigilante killings. She suspects Caine is the
killer, but can't help sympathizing with him.
It's rare that the film industry affords an older actor a plumb role in an action film. Harry Brown may not be a classic, but it's good enough to rise above most contemporary action movies.