Bronson (DVD)

Despite it having a rather strange method of presentation, I couldn't help myself being absolutely enthralled by this film. Based on the true story of Britain's (supposedly) most violent and costly inmate, Bronson follows the life of Mickey Peterson, who adopted the name Charles Bronson as a fighting names following a suggestion by a fellow inmate. As we follow Bronson's life, we get narration from the man himself, on a stage as if his life has been a bit of play, with him playing a role within it, as opposed to it being about him in the first place. I found this a bit surreal, in many ways, and in fact, the whole film is quite surreal. Were it not for the ...  Read the complete review

"Bronson" tells the story of the man who is allegedly Britain's most violent prisoner. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring the brilliant Tom Hardy in the lead role as Michael Peterson the film recounts the events that have led to this man serving more than 34 years behind bars. Michael Peterson is bored. He's bored with his schooling. This leads to confrontation. Confrontation with his peers. Confrontation with his teachers. He is then bored with his job in a fish and chip shop. He's bored by his first marriage. "Irene and I got hitched. It was alright...we didn't have it bad for a couple from the chippy". But Michael ...  Read the complete review

This film is based upon the life of Charles Bronson, no not the actor but a man who changed his name by deed pole and has gained his own limited amount of fame due to his violent life most of it spent in jail where he has continued to make the headlines with his propensity to attack people and also to self publicise his life and actions. I did not really expect myself to enjoy this film but it was actually a lot better than I expected and while there may have been some artistic licence used in telling the story it was an informative and entertaining film. Bronson has spent the best part of 35 years in jail and is constantly moved around the prisons ...  Read the complete review

Bronson (2009) Cert. 18. I saw this film about a week ago and was pondering how to review it, if at all. I am not lost for words, rather, lost for structure, so I will write this review in a stream of consciousness' way and hope it meets with the approval of the reader. For a start, the film is controversial. It portrays the life, albeit embellished and enhanced for cinema of one Charles Bronson (Michael Peterson is his birth name) who has become, in his 34 years inside over a 100 prisons, Britain's most famous prisoner. Famous for violence, for hostage taking, for rooftop protests and latterly famous for being the most famous prisoner. ...  Read the complete review

Michael Petersen is Britain's most infamous prisoner, however you probably know him as Charles Bronson, the broad moustached man of muscle who played a large part in the Broadmoor riots of the eighties. Interest in the criminal underbelly of Britain is probably the driving force in the British film industry. But this is not a crime film a'la Lock Stock etc. I would compare this more to the Australian film Chopper, both are abstract profiles of men who's criminal celebrity is only large in their own minds. The blurb on the DVD box compares this to Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, in all honesty it's nowhere near the genius of that film which has a message ...  Read the complete review