When a movie description starts with the phrase, “known as Great Britain’s most violent and famous inmate” you got my attention. We really don’t need to go further than that statement since I am already trying to imagine in the most absurd way what and who this famous prisoner is all about. I admit I am not familiar with the man unless you are a gym buff and read his book, Solitary Fitness, to get that coveted prison physique. But I wanted to go in a bit fresh with this movie and not know a thing about the man, other than he shares the name of a badass movie star and being portrayed by Tom Hardy. So director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) has my rapt attention and my morbid sense of curiosity for a film about the most famous prisoner of all time…in Britain of course.
In 1974, a hot-headed 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 7 years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. During that time, Michael Petersen, the boy, faded away and ‘Charles Bronson,’ his superstar alter ego, took center stage. Inside the mind of Bronson – a scathing indictment of celebrity culture. (source)
Holy hell. That was all I could say after I saw this manic, tour de force of a film. Tom Hardy was/is incredible as Charles Bronson, the prison hardened inmate with a penchant for the theatrics and playing up a psychotic nature. You couple the expressive outburst of Bronson’s ravings with the hyper-style of Refn’s directing and flair for the visuals and you get an unhinged film that plays with the audience in presentation and style. It’s really suiting for a movie like this to have such a loose, confined story. Bronson wasn’t one for dialing down his emotions and manic sense of pride, so why not have a movie that amps the ridiculousness up at will and without warning.
Tom Hardy is just astounding, plain and simple. Beefing up for the role of the most dangerous prisoner in Britain is no small task and he just looks menacing and huggable (Tom Hardy is just a big teddy bear honestly). There seemed to be no restraint on Hardy’s acting and portrayal of Bronson, which is completely fine since Hardy certainly has the chops to just go off book and really let his acting an involvement with the character take over. He is both believable as a vicious prisoners and as a gifted, lunatic artist, which are contrasted nicely between scenes of bare-knuckle boxing and his wild stage antics in the theaters. Hardy paints a very broad picture about Bronson and since the movie is a loose adaptation on his, take a few of things on screen with a grain of salt. Other than that, this solidifies my love of Tom Hardy and his killer mustache in this movie.
Bronson is all over the place with moods, themes and overall story structure, but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the movie. Refn was able to take such a vivid and crazy life that Bronson led and managed to humanize him without detracting from the effect and legacy he had. A movie about a man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison and turning it 30+ years has to be engaging enough on it’s own, but Refn is able to pull you deeper into the solitary mind of a depraved and genius individual and make the seemingly dull life of prisoner into this theatrical display of madness.
*images via
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