Bronson (2008) User Reviews

Watch it for Hardy

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 20 November 2011]

The real-life story of Britain's toughest prisoner, and not a film I would choose to watch – except when it comes to the casting of the lead actor. Tom Hardy, who I've noticed cropping up more and more in recent years, gives a tour-de-force performance as a psychotic inmate and man to whom violence is a way of life. His eerie voice, hulking frame and dead eyes all combine perfectly to make him one of cinema's most memorable villains in recent years, and with most of the scenes consisting of him speaking monologues in solitary cells, the film belongs to him.

Which is good, because the story isn't up to much. It's a loose dramatisation of the life of Michael Peterson, a man who robbed a post office and ended up becoming Charles Bronson, one of the most famous convicts of all time. To be honest, the events aren't all that interesting, and in other hands the continuous brawls with prison officers could become repetitive. Thank Heaven then for the presence of Nicolas Winding Refn (VALHALLA RISING) as director. This is a guy who understands cinema and the beauty of cinema, and he makes the film intensely watchable as a result. BRONSON looks a thing of beauty, even if that beauty is stark, brutal and minimalistic.

Journey into aggression

[moviemanMA · 8/10 · 8 October 2009]

Bronson is the dramatized story of Charlie Bronson. Not the actor from Death Wish, The Great Escape, and The Dirty Dozen. This is the story of England's most violent prisoner. Born Michael Peterson, he quickly realized that he wanted to make a name for himself. It is unclear why he chose the path he did. He had a normal upbringing, a nice home, good parents, yet he just liked to fight. And he was good at it.

After robbing a post office for what can be only described as "chump change," he was given a seven year sentence. Since that sentencing in 1974, Bronson has seen a little over a few months as a free man. He is still in prison to this day.

What Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn gives us is a stylized version of one of the most bizarre and intoxicating stories I've seen in a long time. Bronson, played wonderfully by Tom Hardy, loves what he does. At least that what he wants us to believe. I was never really convinced that Bronson truly enjoyed what he did. Then again, I can't see the pleasure in pummeling prison guards, bare knuckle fighting, fighting dogs, and bringing others close to death. That said, it was something else to watch.

Hardy gives a rock solid performance. He fits the part both physically and mentally. He has the right edge to let us know how intelligent and hostile Charlie Bronson can be. It's hard to imagine playing someone as energized and mentally perturbed as Bronson, who gets his jollies from beating up innocent prison guards and inmates, but Hardy does just that in style. He never falters and gives 100 percent in every scene.

I can see a lot of similarities to A Clockwork Orange. It has similar accents, violent images, an insight into the criminal mind. Things very much associated with Kubrick's masterpiece. Still, Bronson offers something different. It's more theatrical, blending both the real world with a more dramatic and exaggerated story, showing Bronson as a prisoner, a performer, and storyteller.

Bronson is filled with stunning, startling images and a gives us a very original story, the likes of with we have seldom seen or will see. Charlie Bronson is a unique case of a man that nobody will ever truly understand. Whether you like the glorification of criminals or not, it's hard to deny that this film and the people involved doesn't offer great entertainment. I expect more from Hardy and Refn.

Director and Leading Man combine in an excellent expression of style.

[OwlCreekOccurrence · 8/10 · 13 March 2009]

Tom Hardy and Nicholas Winding Refn are the stars of the show here, taking the story of 'Britain's most violent prisoner' and twisting it into an explosion of style.

Tom Hardy plays Michael Peterson who was initially incarcerated for 7 years after robbing a Post Office but this sentence turned into a 34 year stretch after numerous cases of violence in prison. Of these 34 years 30 were spent in solitary confinement. In his short period outside he assumed the fighting name of Charles Bronson after the Death Wish star. It is his alter ego which dominates the film.

Hardy is magnificent, prowling around people almost growling, a hulking, brooding, unpredictable beast who almost doesn't care what happens to him, preferring gaol where his is someone to the outside where he is no-one.

Many reviewers have been troubled by the lack of insight into the character of Bronson, however this is unsurprising as the story itself is narrated by Bronson himself, cutting back to a fantasy audience where he parades in varying levels of makeup, the star of his own show.

Refn handles this material with aplomb, filling it with tracks and pans, the occasional slice of slow motion, an interesting and varied colour palate and impeccable taste in music. Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange have been mentioned in almost every review, but there are clear influences of Bertolucci, perhaps mostly The Conformist in its detached style and use of colour.

By the time the film ends we are unsure who to feel sorry for, lost in a world of hard lines and constant violence. A very interesting film that marks out Hardy and Refn as exciting talents in modern cinema.

Tom Hardy is a Ruthless 'Bronson'

[ClaytonDavis · 7/10 · 30 November 2009]

In one of the most frightening and downright crazy lead turns of the year, Tom Hardy ignites the screen in the British independent film, Bronson. Based on the unbelievable true story and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, the at times bizarre film tells the story of Michael Peterson, played by Hardy, who robs a post office in 1974, to only get 26 pounds out of the deal, and is sentenced to four years in prison. A four year stay has turned into a thirty-four year prison term, thirty of which has been spent in solitary confinement.

The man, which the British press calls 'the most violent prisoner in Britain," is one of the most complex, and highly disturbing characters to be depicted on screen this year. He always wanted to famous, Hardy states with such charisma at the opening of the film, but he can't sing, he can't dance, so he creates an alter ego during his time as a boxer prior to his prison sentence. Though the film is loosely based on the real man and his story, it doesn't matter, Refn treats the film with such artistic integrity and takes chances that most directors hope to accomplish in their careers. The narrative, though over-whelming at times, is unyielding in the manner in which it's told. For the most part however, Tom Hardy's gritty and aggressive performance will go down as one of the best kept secrets of 2009.

In watching the picture, the co-stars are nearly invisible as Hardy takes control of the screen and your attention. He enables the viewer to devote their time and energy with fear of severe consequences in not doing so. Hardy is an incredible talent and not sure if you'll see a more devoted actor to a character on film this year.

Refn's choice of music that fills the scenes with torment, discomfort, and sheer violence is a brilliance shown in his armor. Bronson is pure entertainment, and though it doesn't provide any moral or social significance in the acts of our lives, it's an admiral effort by British cinema.

***/****

Not Hardy to sell!

[meeza · 9/10 · 15 August 2010]

As I was watching the first 30 minutes of the bio flick "Bronson", I thought it had a death wish or something. It does take a while to let this movie hit you. "Bronson" is based on the true story of who is called England's most notorious prisoner, that would be Michael Peterson better known by his alias Charlie Bronson. He has been incarcerated for 36 years, and 31 in solitary confinement. He never killed anyone, just was convicted of armed robbery a few times; but it was his feisty ways in the prisons and psych wards he did time in that got him all that time. Instead of trying to breakout, Bronson wanted to stay in prison but not exactly as a Solitary Man. He relished on physically brutalizing prison guards and other cellmates, not to mention taking a few as hostages. Bronson also had an artistic side that is also highlighted in Writer-Director's Nicolas Winding Refn movie. Refn's screenplay with Brock Norman Brock did escape the rules of viewer engagement from time to time with its extreme bizarreness, but somehow it boldly & bloody worked. Kudos goes to Refn for orchestrating those power-punching scenes where Charlie B. is refn so many up. Also, I must commend his direction of the comedic scenes of observing Charlie readapting to social civilization upon being released after his first "prison tour of duty". But "Bronson" would not be a brawny feature without the tour-de-performance of Tom Hardy. This Hardy Boy sure did not lack a punch with his dead-ringer Bronson transformation. It will be hard to knock out Hardy as a surefire grand actor for years to come. It is hard to fathom that this is the same actor who played The Cleaner in "Inception", two exemplary performances but diverse in so many ways. "Bronson" is worth putting in the time for no better reason just to witness Tom Hardy's extraordinaire hard work. So pass Go and matchup with "Bronson". ***** Excellent

"Bronson"

[colinrgeorge · 6/10 · 6 April 2010]

Can you really produce a biopic about the theatrical brutality of Britain's most dangerous prisoner and not incite comparisons to Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange?" The trailer for Nicholas Winding Refn's "Bronson" spouts the likeness triumphantly with a quote attributed to Damien McSorley for the publication, "Zoo." Surely Kubrick is a flattering filmmaker to have your humble work compared to, though like American director Wes Anderson, who borrows all the style of the man but none of the content, "Bronson" is a film with an air of grandiosity and very little in the way of actual story. Kubrick's film, based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, has a Dickensian plot that doubles back on characters and scenarios established in the first act, leaving nothing unchanged by the end of the third. It's a comparison under which "Bronson" unfavorably suffers: well directed, impeccably performed, but completely devoid of structure.

I don't mean to undersell the above compliments, however. Tom Hardy as lowly criminal Michael Peterson and his imprisoned superstar alter ego Charles Bronson, displays a remarkable, feral intensity in the role, spitting meaty, cockney chunks of dialogue with a truly disquieting voracity. And Hardy makes a perfect match for Refn: both share a larger- than-life approach to their craft. The director's visual audacity is never more sublimely paired with Hardy's performance than during Bronson's intermittent narrations; snippets of a surreal one-man stage show for some great, unseen audience. The cutaways recall the feel of Alex's presentation following the successful administration of the ludovico technique in "Clockwork Orange." Swooping crane and sweeping dolly shots, along with some fantastic locations, also evoke Kubrick's directorial sentiments, as does the more obvious accompaniment of classical score to key sequences.

Unfortunately, the failure of "Bronson" is not only that there's very little dramatically to be done with a man who spends the better part of his life in solitary confinement, but that beyond a vague notoriety, Peterson's ultimate goal is never particularly clear. The ending of the film is startling in its abruptness given that the scene seems interchangeable with any number of the fights Bronson picks over the course of the film. It doesn't feel a particularly epic brawl, and by that point, the tedium of Bronson's outbursts, battles, and increasingly severe punishments had worn me (though it could maybe be called a statement on the nature of desensitizing cinema--in that respect a reverse "Clockwork Orange") into a sleepy passivity.

The film is nevertheless a step the right direction for the usually-schlocky and hyper- masculine Refn, but "Bronson" still wants for the substantiality that makes great films great films. It isn't likely to inspire any further meditation on its subject beyond perhaps provoking a curiosity about the man himself in those intrigued but unsatisfied with the screenplay's frugal allocation of hard data and social context. But despite the film's inability to make clear its greater thematic intent, I don't think "Bronson" is a perversely violent film or that it exists solely as a fetishistic idol to counterculture, as some will likely label it, and have labeled Kubrick's masterpiece. Its beautiful cinematography (courtesy Larry Smith, interestingly enough, the lighting cameraman for Kubick's own "Eyes Wide Shut") and stellar lead may make it a worthwhile rental next year, but as it stands, "Bronson" is a precautionary tale. It's a film that has everything going for it except the the thing that matters most: its story. And you don't need to be Stanley Kubrick to figure that out.

Brilliant!!

[aqos-1 · 10/10 · 10 July 2009]

I did not know about this movie, but I am so glad I watched it. This is the true story of Michael Patterson, a petty crook, that likes to raise hell while incarcerated. He is arrested for stealing and due to his rambunctious nature, he tends to spend a lot of time alone. Upon his release, he takes up bare fisted boxing at the suggestion of a man he met in jail. He needs a fighting name, so he chose Charles Bronson because it is a name people associate with vengeance. The main actor is amazing!!! He has many monologues and pulls you in with his insanity. The real Bronson is still incarcerated and has written a few books. He is in great physical shape, so he wrote one about how he keeps in shape in prison. He seems a bit split personality and he switched between them with ease. When the movie ended, I wanted more, so I went on line to learn more. This is truly an entertaining movie and I'm glad I was made aware of it.

The subject is undeserving and unexamined but the delivery is engagingly over-the-top

[bob the moo · 28 April 2012]

Bronson is the story of a very violent man, a man with clear mental issues that have gained him the infamous title of the most violent criminal in the UK; he is undeserving of attention on the scale this film gives him and the idea that he is somehow pleased with the film or that it has earned him "fame" is something that sat uneasy with me while watching and continues to sit uneasy with me afterwards. Morally I wondered why I came to the film and also why it was made; director Refn certainly doesn't seem bothered by this though and indeed did himself no favours by famously illegally taping the real man's comments on the film for broadcast at the premiere. So with this in mind it is hard to swallow a film that doesn't seems to have a certain apathy towards the central character – not a great choice of word perhaps but, while the film doesn't go as far as admiring Bronson, it certainly doesn't condemn him or present him in a way that will revile an audience.

Having said that though, what Refn seems to have done is created this film where Bronson tells us his own story. This allows for a soft touch (as it is his own) but also for this violently compulsive mind to create and fill the film so that he is equally a larger than life character while also being quite terrifying in his snaps and swings. The result of this approach is not a film that is to be relied on for the facts of the story but it is one that really delivers a quite dizzying film in terms of borrowed styles, impact, violence and sheer over-the top bravado. It is hard to really process because on one hand this was a problem for me but on the other it actually worked very well to produce a film that is as much a monster as its subject – and the kind part of me wants to believe that this was the point.

If it was then it is successful in some way because it is a beast of a film that comes at you violently and persistently. This is not all praise perhaps, but this is what it does. Depending on your point of view, Refn's direction either pays homage or rips off plenty of others as he throws visual styles and flairs at the screen as if he never thought he's make another film. There are countless reference points are in here if you want them, but for sure Clockwork Orange is what he is going for and I suppose in some way the sheer energy with which he goes after it is commendable. It is not his style and it doesn't make you forget the failings in substance, but it is engaging as pure style. Matching him step for step in this regard is an incredibly ballsy performance from Hardy. It is worth noting that I do not think it is great when it comes to character or intelligence but these failings are in the material, not with Hardy – he follows his director and he deserves a lot of credit for not flinching from anything. He is intense but yet flamboyant, disturbed but yet disturbing, a nice bloke but yet a hideous monster – and it is all done with 100% conviction. His Bronson is not a well-crafted character but (rightly or wrongly) he isn't meant to be and Hardy hammers home what he has been given.

Bronson is not an easy watch. For one reason it features strong violence, language and nudity that may put some off, but the much bigger reason for me was the lack of morality within the construct of the story. The lead character is allowed to tell his own story and as he twists it with his ego, so the whole film is twisted by his ego – Bronson as a man doesn't deserve this done on his behalf and it sat uneasy with me. The saving grace though is that the whole thing is excessive and full-on from the director, an approach which in turn draws an intense and bravely excessive performance from Hardy that makes this really worth watching even if it has a lot of problems in it and around it.

Intense and brutal drama - makes Scum seem like a Disney movie. Jake the Muss would be proud.

[sharkies69 · 7/10 · 9 June 2009]

Saw this the other day at the Sydney Film Festival.

I didn't know much about Bronson before the film, other than what I read on Wikipedia and after walking out of the cinema, I can't say I know any more about the man other than his inability to conform and his reliance on violence and abuse to deal with most situations.

Unlike Korean movie Breathless which also screened at the festival and focused on violence but at least gave you an idea as to why the main character was so disturbed and messed up. Bronson doesn't give you any answers other than he was simply born that way, despite loving parents. His inability to deal with society starting as early as his school years.

What I did enjoy was Hardy's performance. Sure to be compared to Bana's Chopper (which I think was far better - but I am an Aussie and therefore biased) and also A Clockwork Orange. Hardy is impressive as the hulking and impulsive brute. He occasionally shows us Bronson's vulnerable side but mostly it's about the rage that drives him from one prison to another.

The prison system and Brit government are seemingly helpless to come up with solutions at dealing with Bronson's violence. The man himself also seems way beyond rehabilitation. That would be a big understatement.

I thought it was a shame that Bronson didn't get into boxing or some other type of physical sport like Rugby league when he was younger as it might have given him an outlet for his anger.

Anyways, it's ultimately pretty grim viewing but certainly packs a punch (no pun intended). I would have like to see Winding Refn offer us a little more insight into the man.

An excellent portrayal of Britain's most notorious prisoner.

[lmighten · 8/10 · 15 November 2009]

This is a fantastic depiction of Charles Bronson, born Michael Peterson, Britain's most infamous and notorious prisoner. Director Nicholas Winding Refn invites us into Bronson's imagination, with parts of the film shot from the perspective of him being on stage in front of an adoring audience. The rest of the film is a dramatization of Bronson's life and times in prison.

Bronson was initially incarcerated for seven years for the robbery of a post office where he stole £26.18. However he has spent 34 years in prison and psychiatric wards so far, and is still there, spending 30 of them in solitary confinement. He has been involved in fighting, brawls and hostage taking which led to his increased sentence, and he seems to enjoy it. No lives have been lost.

This is an excellent performance from Tom Hardy –funny, thoroughly engaging and intense. He physically transformed himself for this role and obviously studied Bronson vigorously to accurately portray his mannerisms.

A thoroughly compelling film. A must see!

great Tom Hardy

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 6 October 2015]

Michael Gordon Peterson (Tom Hardy) is a notorious British prisoner after being juvenile delinquent and then in 1974, sentenced to 7 years for post office robbery. It's a volatile incarceration and spends much of it in solitary. In 1988, he was finally released after time added and begin a career as a bare knuckle boxing with the name Charles Bronson. He continues to get into trouble with the law and returns to prison.

By the style of the movie, it is an attempt by the character Bronson to explain his life to the audience. It's an interesting idea. It's a total character study and a great opportunity for Tom Hardy. As for the watchability, it has its slow parts and it struggles to find the flow. Violence can come out of nowhere. Overall, it's a great performance in an artistically challenging movie.

Shorter than a 30-year stretch in solitary

[Ali_John_Catterall · 9/10 · 9 March 2009]

To be a performer, in British underworld slang, is to have a flair for violence; to be particularly skilled at putting on the frighteners. It's a term applied to James Fox's gangland enforcer in 'Performance' - and it could also be applied to Charles Bronson aka "Britain's most violent man" as portrayed by Tom Hardy in this bizarre and bracing character study.

We know Bronson, if at all, through tabloid headlines, chronicling his hostage-taking, rooftop protests and distinction as Britain's 'longest serving prisoner'. But even those who thought they knew Bronson might be surprised to learn that the man born Michael Peterson couldn't have had a more respectable start. Born into an upper-middle class family in Aberystwyth, his uncle was mayor and his parents ran the local Conservative club.

But the bright, gentle boy fell in with a bad lot; he became a bare-knuckle boxer; he robbed a post office for £26.18p. The bungled armed robbery put him in jail for seven years. Initially. For many, a lengthy prison stretch would be the undoing of life as they knew it. But it was the making of Bronson. In prison he discovered his calling: a gift for chaos.

The opening scene, a tableau which will be repeated over and over again, features him spattered in blood, feral and naked, playing human pinball with terrified prison warders until he's eventually overpowered; a bound Promethean. He travels from prison to prison as if on eternal vacation. Parkhust is "well worth a visit". At Wormwood Scrubs, "the staff ensure your stay is as memorable as possible". Hostage-taking is just a prescription against boredom; although the matter of whether prolonged incarceration exacerbated his behaviour, institutionalised him, is never addressed.

So far, so BritCrime. But anyone expecting another 'Rise Of The Footsoldier' - even 'McVicar' - will be in for a shock. Refn first came to prominence with the 'Pusher Trilogy', gritty and unflinching pseudo-documentaries focusing on the criminal underworld of not-so wonderful Copenhagen. Yet stylistically, Bronson is a universe away from those movies; it's far plainer to see the influence of DP Larry Smith, who also photographed Refn's hyper-real 'Fear X.'

Refn has delivered a weird and wonderful anti-biopic that explodes the conventions of the genre; a fittingly anarchic approach to linear progression of which the eponymous jailbird would surely approve. Most of these scenes could be shuffled around any which way, which is appropriate: when you've been banged up for as long as Bronson has (34 years, 30 of them in solitary confinement), time probably ceases to have much meaning.

With a classically-weighted score married to scenes of ultra-violence, this not only pays homage to Kubrick, but also to mavericks like Lindsay Anderson, Peter Greenaway and John Maybury ('Love Is The Devil') in its picaresque digressions and painterly aesthetics: a cinematic palate of reds and blacks. Hell colours. Compared with most of the wannabe bad-boys clogging up the arteries of British cinema, this is practically an art installation or contemporary performance piece.

And Charles Bronson, of course, is a first-rate performer: from that attention-grabbing Hollywood-purloined name (actually foisted on him by a boxing promoter) to his way with his fists - and striking artworks, which bear comparison with those of that other outsider-artist Daniel Johnston, and which sell for small fortunes, Bronson has worked as tirelessly as Max Clifford to keep his reputation intact and name in the papers for decades.

Refn even has him orating to us from an Edwardian music hall stage, and miming songs Dennis Potter-style while painted like a harlequin or moustache-twirling circus strongman. It's disturbing, and recalls Rupert Pupkin in 'The King Of Comedy' and Jonathan Pryce channeling Grock the clown in Trevor Griffiths' play 'Comedians'. Also, Freddie Starr in the infamous 2001 Channel 4 documentary 'Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster', in which Starr berated an empty auditorium and laid a wreath on-stage to symbolise 'British comedy's passing'.

Starr came across as desperately unhappy, but also largely self-deluding. Bronson is equally deluded and naive. A prison governor tells him, "You're ridiculous". He is. But really, he's just a little boy incarcerated inside endlessly replicating walls of muscle, a self-made prison of gristle and bone.

Hardy gets that, and his performance is astonishing; proper Stanislavski. Whether gazing into the distance with a thousand-yard stare, as if awaiting the muse of mayhem to tell him who to hit next, or gleefully cavorting in the theater of Bronson's imagination, the man's magnetic. 'Peep Show's' Matt King also lends sterling support as Bronson's comically seedy, upper-class boxing promoter Paul; a Withnail in the underworld sporting black leather gloves.

In a movie filled with startling, near-hallucinatory moments - drugged, drooling asylum inmates dancing woozily to The Pet Shop Boys; Bronson caged in a tiny, medieval-like restricting device, like something from a Francis Bacon - there is a truly remarkable scene toward the end that attempts to throw speculative light on the man's motivations, what really makes him tick. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the filmmakers suggest the answer lies in the creative impulse.

Having taken his prison art teacher hostage, Bronson demands to hear music. As Delibes' 'Lakmé' is piped over the Tannoy, a swooning naked Bronson, smeared in charcoal and grease, gently body paints Phil to resemble a living Magritte, with a bowler hat and apple in his mouth. Might Bronson's violence simply be misdirected creative passion? Is prison really an ersatz canvas, onto which he drips warders' blood like a sociopathic Jackson Pollock?

Well, alright. There's probably an argument for suggesting Bronson's nothing more than a pretentious thriller kitted out with the greatest hits of Classic FM. You could say the same of 'A Clockwork Orange.' Detractors might say it appeals to those who hold that violence is art and vice-versa but would flee from a street fight. Which would be to truly underestimate such a smart, funny and stylish film. Bronson appeals to the anti-authoritarian in us all.

Strange film.

[TomFarrell63 · 7/10 · 26 July 2023]

I sat down to watch this last night, the blu ray having sat in my to be watched pile for quite some time.

When it started, I thought I was going to absolutely hate it, thought it was pretentious nonsense, with the classical music blasting away, and couldn't make my mind up if it was supposed to be a serious film or not.

As it progessed however, I found myself engrossed, unable to look away.

By the end, I was a little shell shocked, still unable to make out whether what I'd watched was supposed to be a serious study of the man in question, or a parody. I suppose it's meant to be taken however you want to take it.

A few shocking scenes, but nothing particularly over the top, the scenes at the mental hospital having a desperate sense of melancholy to them.

Despite mixed feelings about the film, and probably not fully comprehending the directors intentions, it's certainly a film I'll watch again in the future.

What was the point?

[graham_525 · 1/10 · 1 June 2010]

I'm not sure exactly what this film wants us to learn about Michael Peterson or Charles Bronson. All I learned about him was that he is an extremely violent self absorbed sociopath who lives in a tragic deluded fantasy world. Nothing else was offered, no hidden depths revealed. In the end he was just a violent sadistic idiot.

The heavy handed stylisation of the film was overly self conscious and blatantly copied from Clockwork Orange amongst other films. There was a clumsy attempt to turn scenes of violence into artistic aesthetic moments by using Stanley Kubric's method of showing them in slow motion with classical music playing in the background. The shear amount of extremely violent scenes grow painfully tedious. The way the film dealt with the hostage taking of Phil Danielson was offensive and totally disrespectful to Danielson himself who's life was ruined by the experience. Danielson was shown as a foppish idiot who deserved everything he got from Bronson. In reality Danielson was held captive for over 40 hours and was made to walk around the prison like a dog and was told by Brosnson that he was going to die. Bronson apologised in court to Danielson and his family which Bronson's supporters see as proof of the fundamental decency of the man.

I don't buy into the Bronson supporter's propaganda. Bronson is artistic they tell us. Yeah and so? I actually checked out his so called art online and it's talentless childish rubbish. Even if it wasn't I don't see why that means he should be released. Perhaps his supporters should try being held hostage by him for 40 hours. Bronson is warm hearted and funny they tell us. Yeah, Bronson and every other psychopath. Warmhearted until they take a dislike to you and use that as a justification for stamping on your head.

I don't see why this man should have had a film made about him, especially one that didn't seem to have any point to it. Having seen the film I hope he stays where he is, locked up safe and sound.

Impressive but tries too hard

[son_of_cheese_messiah · 7/10 · 24 December 2011]

This film has much to recommend it and its reputation will probably go up in time as more people see it. It looks fantastic and the performance by Tom Hardy is compelling. There is no attempt to sentimentalise this character or depict him as a victim. The dialogue is taut and authentic and contains many lines which may, in time, become as familiar as those in say Get Carter. My favourite is "you just p***ed on a gypsy in the middle of nowhere. Its hardly the hot ticket."

My slight problem is that the film sometimes tries too hard to impress. This is most noticeable during the long (literally) operatic scenes. These scenes become especially prevalent towards the end, when Wagnerian music accompanies Bronson's drawings (with an ill-fitting cartoon sequence) and the warden slow-mo strolling down the corridor. I did not see what the music added here. In the violent climax, the music actually detracted from the physicality of the scene.

Tom Hardy's volcanic performance makes this bio utterly compelling.

[nesfilmreviews · 8/10 · 4 July 2013]

One thing is for certain: Bronson invites you to admire its protagonist as a pure, muscular embodiment of anarchy. And perhaps you will, but you will also be glad that he is still behind bars. The film opens with a man on stage proclaiming, "My name is Charlie Bronson, and all my life I've wanted to be famous." The auditorium appears to be empty, but later, a still unseen audience provides the approval he so desperately covets.

Born Michael Peterson (Tom Hardy), in a British suburb in 1952, he first went to prison at the age of 22 for burglarizing a post office. He stole £26.18 and received seven years for the crime, but that sentence was quickly extended as Peterson's infractions inside began to pile up: insubordination, violence, blackmail, and multiple hostage situations. Michael is gradually swallowed up by the prison system, seemingly an environment that suits him best. It is during this time that Michael Petersen, the boy, fades, and 'Charles Bronson,' his superstar alter ego, takes over. Bronson occupies any territory in which he exists by sheer, brute, force. Bronson's first and only instinct is to fight, to capture, and to win. He never makes it to phase two of planning. He has now spent more than three decades in jail, with the majority of those years in solitary confinement, and has become a tabloid sensation as the "most violent prisoner in Britain."

The film is impressively structured and edited, shot in dark tones--illustrating his theme that Bronson is "an artist looking for a canvas," whose search is frequently violent, crazy, and erratic. The director is Nicolas Winding Refn, most famous for the movie "Drive" (2011), and his "Pusher" trilogy of films about Copenhagen's violent, multi-ethnic underworld. Refn himself is something of a rebel, who brings a sharp, surreal, foreign eye to the film.

The film solely rests upon the astonishing performance from an almost unrecognizable Tom Hardy. Bronson never asks for our sympathy for his situation, but somehow, at times, he is able to do just that. Hardy brings a raw physicality to the role, leaping naked about his cell, jumping from tables, and hurling himself into half a dozen guards. Unfortunately, the film never gets under the skin of Bronson and his motivations. It omits other facets of his life including the Muslim woman he married in jail, his conversion to Islam, and the subsequent renouncement of the awards he won for his art and poetry.

Enduring the egotistical ramblings of a psychopath may not sound like a particularly entertaining prospect, but "Bronson" delivers on all fronts. Gripping, visceral, ugly, and beautiful, "Bronson" is simply unforgettable.

The bulldog breed

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 5 December 2014]

Charles Bronson the notorious prisoner who took the name from the more famous actor has achieved almost celebrity status with decades spent behind bars. In essence two acts of robbery has lead to lengthy jail sentence because of his behaviour in prison.

Tom Hardy probably came to people's attention when he played an experimental clone of Captain Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis.

Here he bulked up to play Brosnan and with director Nicolas Winding Refn. We have a stylised and avantgarde film which does not glorify Bronson but presents him someone who is institutionalised.

A man who has reached a stage where he cannot contemplate life in the outside and hence his violent behaviour in prison.

Bronson narrates the film like a music hall star. With Refn at the helm this is not a low budget Brit flick 'Scum' wannabee.

Instead it is a violent, disturbing but thoughtful and even sensitive film. A fantasy portrayal of a disturbed man.

a curiously enraged tosser of a movie, equally entertaining and, oddly, dull

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 16 February 2010]

Nicholas Winding Refn's film doesn't for a second let us feel anything for Bronson, except that he truly does deserve the title of "Britain's Most Violent Prisoner". The tone of the film is that of a life abstracted from itself, a man who views himself from a stage, and from a confessional black space, and just as he was, and it's an experimental feat that will remind some of A Clockwork Orange (cause, you know, violent bloke plus classical music) and others of Lola Montes (for the kaleidoscopic view of a life lived as a showbiz personality, or would-be one). Much of the film is meant as pure entertainment, not a psychological breakdown of this guy. Maybe there isn't much more to tell, and that Bronson, or Mickey Peterson, was just a brutal f***-ed up thug who should stay behind bars. But then I started to think: really, what's the point then?

There's also a kind of disconnect with the experimental form, very loosely structured though in a linear time-line in Bronson's life in and sometimes not in prison, and Bronson as a character. Refn's talent extends out like a cage rattler, but it should have gone even further. After a while it gets a little tiring, actually, to return to that image of a clown-faced Bronson on stage giving a packed audience a show and a half. It becomes predictable, despite how radical Refn does, or thinks he does, filming the Bronson from his 'dramatized' scenes to his inner-landscape of wanting fame and notoriety. I knew it would come back around to it, and it becomes more of a gimmick, a plot device, stringing along the narrative as opposed to the narrative working hard for itself. Or, if this doesn't make sense, frankly, the film's structure and change in moods made me feel uneasy, and not always in the good intentional queasy way of underground independent cinema.

But don't get me wrong, Bronson does have a lot to recommend for it. Some scenes are just flat-out funny, like when Bronson does a rather poor job stealing a ring from a jeweler (or, he gets away, but explains "wait ten minutes to call" in such a calm, deadpan vice), or stick out as being really compelling and perfectly strange like when Bronson is put in a mental asylum as a means to tame the beast (how he gets out of it, by the way, is a wicked kind of genius). It's also thrilling to see an actor like Tom Hardy take on the role with such mania and skill. This is not a person one can like much, and only one or two moments is sympathy allowed or possible, and otherwise we see him just as the monster he was. For any actor this is a challenge, but when done right, such as here, it's enlightening. It's not quite as great as the performance (or just character) everyone's comparing it to- Alex in Clockwork Orange- but on its own terms it works as a contained force of rage and madness. He's an anti-hero that would make Jake La Motta cringe.

Oh, there's also plenty of scenes showcasing some wicked cinematography (wicked in a complimentary sense I mean), and a fine, strange mix of classical tunes and 80's synth-pop music. But by the end, something just didn't sit totally right with me with Bronson. It's audacious and cleverly filmed, but it doesn't take off from the promise of its opening minutes, drifting along on the a story that is actually shorter than expected, and after a while the sameness of the structure is what kind of gets it down. This should either be a straightforward narrative or something so gonzo it would make Takashi Miike run for the hills. Instead it's in a semi-comfortable middle. 6.5/10

Amazing performance, slightly weak story

[steel_arkangel · 7/10 · 13 March 2009]

Tom Hardy gives a truly Oscar winning performance as Michael Peterson, in fact I would go so far as to say it was Eastwood (Gran Torino) beating. Sadly for me though it was really only his performance that carried the movie along.

I freely admit that I didn't know much about the man before I saw this movie, but most of the film seemed to be Bronson beating prison guards up in various different locations & not much more. I know he got re-married - where was this? OK he spent most of his life behind bars, but surely there was a bit more to the mans life than what we saw?

I've read that Bronson was quite happy about this movie & that it has given him some immortality, however I'm not sure that it really is going to leave people with the impression of him that he thinks. I certainly didn't leave the cinema thinking of him as a "billy the kid / Jessie James" anti-hero, but instead pitied him as a lost, out of control man who knew nothing but violence - more of a tortured soul.

A Sense Of The Long Good Rocky Chopper Shrek

[velvoofell · 10/10 · 19 February 2009]

'Bronson' is a ninety minute dramatised account of the life of one of Britain's most notorious prisoners, Michael "Charlie Bronson" Petersen. Originally jailed for armed robbery in the seventies, Bronson's refusal to button down to porridge - and ambition to become a "name" in prison, saw him take hostages, stage protests and fight many prison guards at a time. His resultant extended sentence of a staggering thirty four years of prison have seen him spend twenty six years in solitary confinement, a spell in an insane asylum and a total of one hundred and twenty four days of parole/freedom. With each small burst of freedom on the outside, Bronson realised he was ill suited to a world fast outpacing him - he is a king and a legend in prison, however and one of the strong messages of the film is that he would rather suffer the slings and arrows of jail than operate in a world he could not fathom.

Bronson, in an awards-magnetising, all consuming performance from 'Star Trek: Nemesis's Tom Hardy, narrates his own life story from a Proscenium stage. Bronson's innate comedic and artistic talents are exploited in these linking scenes. He wears Leigh-Bowery style clown make-up as he addresses the audience - in fact Leigh Bowery's influence seems a touchstone for the atavistic "war paint" Bronson adopts during various staged battles with his jailers, as well as his own surrealist cartoons.

A pastiche of an act popularised by slightly nihilistic British comedian "Freddy Starr" is used inspirationally in Bronson's description of his dealings with an asylum's governors.

All in all, this is a rich, highly stylish and convincing account of an empty life and aching soul. Vertigo Pictures appear not to have had a distributor for the film at the screening this writer attended and it would be a shame if a major international distributor trimmed the violence, homo-erotic subtexts and surrealism as it would neuter the piece.

In a film that is 'A Sense of Freedom', with the period tone and raw power, but profound Britishness, of 'The Long, Good Friday' - plus a dash of 'The Rocky Horror Show' and 'Shrek' - an anti-hero as impressive as Eric Bana's 'Chopper' (2000) is born.

Although, unlike his Antipodean doppelganger, Bronson don't hit women.

A refreshingly different British crime movie. You won't have enough...

TOTAL WASTAGE OF 1 hour and 40 Minutes

[maanas-mostwanted · 15 May 2013]

The director and the writter of this movie have made and written some good movies which i have seen before seeing Bronson....Drive for instance that was a good movie with a descent pace and a STORY!

But What the in the world went wrong here....they just picked up a Brit psychopath's story and made a movie out of it...there is nothing good about this movie..its TOOO DAMN SLOW the expressions the feelings which in a normal movie last for 2 - 5 secs here last for 2 - 5 minutes i had to fast forward those parts...

One man centered movie hes violent kind of split personality cant withstand the normal life... so he beats up the guards of the prison? wow how is that for a story...no twist no ending it starts with a prison and end with it...( i don't get it how can people give a 9 or a 10 to this movie!! i read the other reviews.. -.-')

The only good thing which was there was Tom Hardy's shoulder's brilliant guess he started working out during this movie to be fully toned for Warrior

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT NO ONE SHOULD EVERY WATCH THIS MOVIE...you end up frustrated like me!!

Hardy all the way

[varun_tamizh · 7/10 · 21 July 2012]

Bronson is said to be one of Tom Hardy's best performances in his career and it is said to be a thrill ride. Read my review to know more.

PLOT:

Michael Gordon Peterson is a notorious criminal who wants to become famous. He is renamed as Charles Bronson by his fight promoter. He is born to a very respectable middle class family and becomes United Kingdoms most feared criminals and spends his entire adult life in solitary confinement. The movie is based on Peterson's life.

CHARACTERS:

There is no other big character in this movie other than Tom Hardy. Hardy plays this role with impeccable timing. His mannerisms induce laughter while his looks send chills down your spine. He is cool and some times innocent to look. He seems to be eccentric but he is so strategic in what he does. A very hard character to understand, Hardy just nails it. For the first 40 minutes or so you are left thinking " uh is he mad or is he acting". When he is injected with a sedative that when all his acting prowess is seen. Hardy is the glue that holds the movie together.

THE MOVIE:

The movie is not a masterpiece nonetheless a bad movie. It has its fair share of bad moments and good moments. For example Hardy gets naked many a times in the movie which is not comfortable to look. But when he is clad in suit he is mesmerizing. The director Nicholas Winding works his way establishing Bronson's character in a very fulfilling way but he fails to establish any other characters. The movie is not well paced, it feels fast at times and it drags at times. But, Hardy provides a solid performance that immerses you into the movie.

VERDICT:

The movie is a good entertainer only because of Tom Hardy's performance. It has his moments when Hardy wrecks havoc in the prison but falls short at places. But it is still a stylish refreshing movie with a reverberating performance from Tom Hardy.

I go with 7 stars out of 10. Wort a Watch.

I'll be what I am ... a solitary man

[Coventry · 8/10 · 16 January 2011]

Ambition is one of the most important things in life to have … Whether it's in your personal or professional life, ambition and achieving goals is what keeps you going. "Bronson", co-written and directed by the multi-talented Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, is basically a story about one man's ambition as well, albeit the strangest and most disturbing I ever heard. "Bronson" tells the story of Michael Peterson; a man who may proudly call himself Britain's most violent prisoner. Peterson got imprisoned in 1974, following a relatively banal armed robbery incident, but ever since then he spent a total 34 years behind bars, of which 30 years in solitary confinement no less. Michael Peterson just has an extremely explosive personality and regularly hijacks fellow inmates or staff members in his cell to evoke a physical confrontation with as many armed guards as possible. During these hijacking situations, Peterson doesn't make commands or requests favors, he simply waits until the time is right and then simply prepares for a good old-fashioned bare knuckle fight in the nude! Throughout his "career" in and out of prison, he temporarily became a professional fighter and changed his name to Charlie Bronson, because he's tough and relentless. "Bronson" is a peculiar but admirably successful drama/semi- biography. Just how difficult is it to draw a portrait about a criminal who, in fact, never murdered or raped anyone in his entire life and yet easily can be considered as one of the most disturbing human beings on the planet? Nicolas Winding Refn delivered a powerful and deeply impressive motion picture, mostly thanks to an original narrative structure and a respectable approach of the subject matter. Michael "Charlie Bronson" Peterson supposedly narrates the movie himself, partially from inside his prison cell and partially on a theater stage dressed up like a clown. The latter POV masterfully illustrates Peterson's hunger for recognition and fame whereas the prison setting reflects his true introvert and dangerously disturbed personality. Multiple sequences are also downright petrifying and offensive, like the dance scene to Pet Shop Boys' "It's a Sin" inside the mental asylum. Of course, the movie undoubtedly also owes a lot of its tremendous impact to the staggering performance of Tom Hardy. He clearly put a lot of devotion and preparation into the role, but it surely paid off. Terrific, original and highly recommended film.

Another outstanding performance by Tom Hardy

[JohnRayPeterson · 7/10 · 28 January 2012]

The movie is based on a real life person, no not Charles Bronson, but one who thought of himself as Charles Bronson. Don't look for storytelling greatness or original idea in a usual sense, but rather look at this project as a unique display of style. It's all about caricaturing an exceptional individual, the infamous Michael Peterson; he was the most notorious prisoner Britain has ever known. I watched this movie, not quite believing what I was seeing and wondering how weirder it could get. I did not know what to make of it, yet I could not turn it off. I understood early on that this was the life story of an incredible criminal, but incredible not in a flattering way.

The director found an approach that could stand out, really stand out, and also found in Tom Hardy the best actor to play this part. I did not recognize Hardy until I looked up the credits. It's the same Tom Hardy that I raved about in a review of the movie 'Warrior' and who I liked in 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', 'Inception', 'RocknRolla', 'Sucker Punch' (not the 2011 one, the 2008), and 'Layer Cake'. The movie will not likely appeal to you if you're not open to 'artsy' movie making, but if you want to see a great performance by Hardy, you can't go wrong. You'll never see a tough-guy character like this; he's the 'baddest s.o.b.' I've ever seen. It was an experience.

This movie is barely watchable

[istvan-828-816795 · 1/10 · 26 September 2011]

There are good movies about prison and prisoners eg. The Shawshank Redemption, Natural Born Killers, Felon and so on. Everybody has a favorite one, I guess. This movie is just plain wrong from the beginning till the end. Pure violence without the least value added, illogical characters, zero story, just a bunch of shots after each other, like a newbie is trying to make a movie without a concept. Do not waste time on watching this crap, it is not worth the time and the money. I would classify it as one of the biggest failures of prison movies. :( I don't understand how could it get such a high score on IMDb. :)