Bronson (2008)

I was not expecting much from this film, but I didn't know that much about it. All I knew was what I'd seen on the cover and read on the back, and I wasn't too hopeful. But I was bored and had some time to kill and it was worth it. I just wanted a little background noise, but this was seriously intriguing. I couldn't look away.The actor in the lead role does a phenomenal job. I will have to check out more of his work. He should win an award or something! And I read this was a true story, so it makes it all the more intriguing! I will have to look it up.

I absolutely LOVE Tom Hardy, but this wasn't my fav role of his. To each their own I suppose, i do love his ability to commit to the roles he plays..i'm a die hard hardy fan & this wasn't bad, but also not so good. Kinda...meh?? Good job portraying Bronson though. Very interesting story.. Again, not my fav character hes played. I still love him as an actor. I really can't get enough of Tom lately. He's amazing in The Revenant, Dunkirk, The Drop, Mad Max & Taboo...to name a few. I love his attitude & looking forward to seeing many more of his movies & upcoming sequels to come.

Built around a once-in-a-lifetime bravura performance by Tom Hardy, "Bronson" boldly attempts to relate the story of a man who can't be understood: Michael Peterson a.k.a. Charlie Bronson – the United Kingdom's most notorious prisoner."Bronson" excels on the synchronicity of Hardy and director Nicolas Winding Refn (who also co-writes with Brock Norman Brock). These are two bold, distinctive artists who do not apologize for the abrasiveness of their particular creative leanings. Although a Bronson biopic would look good to most movie-goers on paper, their approach extends well beyond the box. It won't click with viewers who like more traditional storytelling, but their narrative and aesthetic choices are most fitting for a man who prides himself on not being able to be defined by others.The Peterson/Bronson character narrates this story as if giving a theatre monologue. In fact, there are a number of expository scenes that take place in a proscenium theater in which a dapper Bronson "performs" for an audience of rich and fancy types. This choice embraces the inherent theatricality of Bronson's behavior and while making the critical point that Bronson had and has a large degree of self-awareness. For a man who has spent most of his life in solitary confinement, it also makes sense that he might imagine his life through this lens of having an audience.The script follows chronological order by and large, but not in any explicit way or by using any clear cues. This echoes the unusual way that time passes – one must imagine – for Bronson. Time was never something he cared about, since he showed little desire to get released, and its passage has only been marked by his violent outbursts and transfers from one prison to the next.The notorious figure and enigma that is Bronson (now apparently named Charles Salvador after his love for Salvador Dali) is the film's focal point. Refn attempts to unlock whatever pieces of Bronson's psyche that he can, but from the angle that he too, like us, knows practically nothing about what makes this man tick. That places the real challenge on the monstrously large shoulders of Hardy. One understands exactly why this film launched Hardy's career, and that if the part had come his way during his rise to fame rather than being its cause, he would've easily been nominated for an Oscar if not the winner.Hardy captures the unpredictable yet in many ways predictable nature of Bronson, the way he is driven and calculated yet subservient to his desire for violence. We know exactly what he's capable of after a few scenes of throwing fists at prison guards, yet it doesn't make understanding why it happens any easier. Hardy magnifies that effect by shouting at times when we don't expect it – like really powerful shouting – and giving the character and his performance tremendous physicality.In a story full of violence and brutality, Refn makes a daring choice to ironically use classical pieces and Golden Age Hollywood- sounding music over many of the most graphic scenes. Yet he also uses electronic music too. Nothing is reminiscent of the time period depicted on screen. This could have easily been a dark, gritty and horrifying film accentuated by dark and gritty music, but the role of violence in Bronson's life is more complicated than "violence is awful." Music is a tool that Refn uses to alter our thinking around this person. Without it, we'd just be disturbed and bothered by this animalistic man we don't understand. Refn is giving us the tools to consider this man and his story with different perspectives."Bronson" never settles within us or gives us any satisfaction of epiphany. Instead, we are to take great joy in wrestling with this man (not literally, thank goodness) and wrestling with this film. That's a little antithetical to what most movies about an enigmatic figure attempt to do, but given the unbelievable nature of Charlie Bronson, it's fitting that Refn intentionally avoids that style of storytelling and opts for something enigmatic in and of itself.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Not a biopic of Charles Bronson the actor, but rather Charlie Bronson, once dubbed the UK's most violent prisoner, this drama from Nicolas Winding Refn is not your typical biographical movie. The film is structured around shots of the protagonist on an auditorium stage where he makes those listening to him laugh and cheer at varied anecdotes from his life. He also performs a memorable cabaret act on stage and seems genuinely happy for all his experiences in prison... until it gradually becomes obvious that his audience is merely imagined and a direct result of his megalomania and hyper-elevated sense of self-importance. A chilling point comes early on as Bronson reveals that he saw prison as "an opportunity" to make a name for himself and find fame in notoriety; all the prison wardens who he encounters are baffled by his frequently unprovoked violence, but it makes sense for someone bent on achieving fame however possible. We are given precious little background information on Bronson and his upbringing though, like what factors drove him to desire fame, but the snapshot of his life that we do get is absolutely unshakable. Tom Hardy is superb as the charismatic title character subject to near unpredictable mood swings and - as per Refn norm - the film looks and sounds exquisite with vivid colours and a great music score. The very pronounced parallels to 'A Clockwork Orange' work well too, though 'Bronson' is far less concerned with society's reactions to the main character's violence than Kubrick's seminal future-set drama.