Bronson (2008)

A surreal and potent

biopic, with one of the most

devoted performance of 

the last decade.

Despite what IMDB would have you believe, this film is what broke Tom Hardy onto the scene, no Inception. This is also, more importantly, the reason the man is so well respected and in demand, for the outstandingly involved and methodical performance he gives here. Like several of the films I have covered on this blog, this is a film which is worth watching for its lead performance even without the film's other merits.

Tom Hardy is simply phenomenal as Charlie Bronson, he immerses himself completely in the role and is terrifyingly realistic in every single scene. Hardy is this film, he embodies it's very soul. He provides the film's greatest thrills, chills and moments of levity in some of his hilariously off-the-wall inner monologues. I cannot emphasise how much I adore this performance, and how worthy a start to a career this is, if Hardy fails to give an equal performance in the rest of his young career, then I'll totally understand why. The other actors in the film are also believable, however they don't hold a candle to Hardy and they aren't meant to, this is 100% a character study.

The film's cinematography and editing are also both fantastic. Refn brings his iconic style into every scene, and makes this a truly unique dive into a mind of madness The soundtrack, featuring many of the artists who would one day form the backbone of the mindblowing Drive soundtrack,  is a joy to listen to and carries true menace and weight in its use. The film has sublime presentation on the whole and feels deranged and unhinged in all the right places. Special mention goes to the choreography in the brawl scenes, if there even was any. It felt appropriatly rough and unrehearsed, whilst being stunning to behold in lavish slow-motion. Whether this was due to detailed choreography, or simply the work of Hardy and the stunt-men, I give somebody huge credit for their work in this area.

However, I did have some issues with this film. There was a middle section, detailing Bronson's brief period as a free man, which felt quite sloppily done and ultimately irrelevant. I understand it would probably have been hard to cut out entirely as it is part of the real events, however it is clear that Refn didn't particularly care about this part of the story. There was also a groan-worthy pole-dance scene which connected to literally nothing and was almost tone destroying. Also, if I were to get very nitpicky, I would argue that the film's final few scenes were also slightly less powerful when connected to the film's first half or so.  However, that issue in particular was quite minor and didn't affect my enjoyment very much at all.

Overall, I love this deranged little waltz through the mind of violent sociopath. Hardy was magnificent, the directing was magnificent, and even if the film is ultimately slightly less than the sum of it's parts, I enjoyed it all the same.

By Jack D. Phillips

A Zoom Film Review