RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES
By Lee Pfeiffer
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 scheduled for demolition. 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.
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