Michael Peterson (Tom Hardy) decided he
wanted to make a name for himself when he was 19. He attempts to rob a post office
and ends up in jail. Sentenced to jail for seven years, he ends up being
34 years in jail (with 30 being in solitary confinement) since 1974. He
attacks the guards and he even ends up in a mental institution where he is drugged.
Along the way, he is released briefly because he is costing the British government millions. He nicknames himself Charles Bronson after the actor (who was in the DEATHWISH films). BRONSON is the crazy true story of Bronson’s life in and out of jail.
BRONSON is an experimental film that harkens
back to the approach used in Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Nicolas
Winding Refn directs (and helped rewrite the script since he thought the original wasn’t that good) a crazy and yet
stylish film that paints the portrait of a colorful misguided man. Bronson
is the type of guy that would be interesting to chat with since he is such an unconventional and violent guy. Tom Hardy brings the man to life and anchors the stylish film.
Without that performance, the rest wouldn’t be as good. BRONSON
is one of the most unexpected stylish films I have seen this year.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
18 minutes of CHARLES BRONSON monologues
set to still pictures from the films.
MAKING OF BRONSON has interviews with cast
and crew describing how the film came together and was made (the director reshot forty percent of the film). It contains parts of the full interviews with Nicolas Winding Refn, Tom Hardy, and Matt King. The full interviews have interesting insights like how the director approached
the film (he had no real contact with Bronson except for 20 minutes over the phone) while tom Hardy corresponded and met Bronson. The stories that Tom Hardy tells of Bronson are the most entertaining part of
the interviews.
TRAINING TOM HARDY shows a little bit on
how Tom Hardy was trained to be in the shape Bronson was in. The BEHIND
THE SCENES FOOTAGE shows on-set production footage. Rounding out the extras
is the original theatrical trailer and previews for ONG BAK 2, RED CLIFF, DISTRICT 13 ULTIMATUM, and THE WARLORDS.
FINAL ANALYSIS: BRONSON is a stylish visual treat with a fantastic performance by Tom Hardy. Check it out now. Too bad they couldn’t have an
interview with the real Bronson on the disc.
This DVD review is (c)2-19-2010 David
Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
