Bronson

IN an explosion of violence, theatrics...and 80s music, the notorious story of 'Britain's most violent prisoner' is brought to the screen.
Bronson tells the true story of Michael Peterson, who was initially caged for seven years for robbing loose change from a post office but is still locked up to this very day.
Without tangling itself in over-analysis, the film tells the tale of man who has defined himself with a heady cocktail of violence and a quest for fame.
In prison, he was the star of the show and in his heyday he was determined to stay whatever the costs to himself and those around him.

Acting to an unseen audience, some metaphoric scenes of the film see Peterson speaking in a theatre room with the crowd applauding his unspeakable antics.
It gives you an idea what his state of mind must have been like at the time and it’s quite unsettling.
This was to such an extent that part of his sentence was spent in a mental institution...until he was certified sane and spewed back out into society.
It isn’t long before he’s back in jail but this time, he uses his ‘fighting name’ Charles Bronson and the chaos continues.
Bronson caused controversy on its release as many think the life of a criminal should not be celebrated.
Perhaps they are right, and at times it was hard to see the film’s point, but for a portrait of troubled man, Bronson succeeds.

Watchmen

PERHAPS it’s the recession that’s bringing comic book heroes to the silver screen at the moment.
With the credit crunch biting, there’s few of us who don’t feel like we need saving right now and that’s reflected at the cinema.
Based on what is considered to be the best graphic novel ever written, Watchmen – a product of the troubled 80s – brings its own sense of crisis and impending doom.
Described by its author, Alan Moore, as ‘unfilmable’, Watchmen’s arrival on the big screen is unexpected but very welcome.
And who better to make the transition than geeky director Zack Snyder, whose credits include the stylish film transformation of Frank Miller’s ‘300’?

Watchmen tells the story of a redundant super hero team living in an alternative reality in which Nixon never resigned after the Watergate scandal.
The world is on the brink of oblivion due to the escalated nuclear arms race between America and the USSR and masked vigilantes have been outlawed.
But when former ‘hero’ The Comedian is brutally murdered, the group reform to unravel the mystery.
Jutting back and to from the past to the present, Snyder paints a vivid and faithful picture of the graphic novel. At two hours, 40 minutes, perhaps the only problem here is he didn’t know what to leave out.
For many people, Rorschach will be the star of the show. A terrifying sociopath who sees the world’s good and evil in black and white, he is a reflection of the film’s troubled world.
That’s the beauty of the story – Watchmen’s ‘heroes’ are all actually troubled antiheroes.

Gran Torino

LIKE an old Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood makes a magnetic return to the silver screen in Gran Torino.
Playing on how his screen persona has developed over the years, the 78-year-old growls viscerally at his disaffected younger relatives in his latest role.
Gran Torino examines the generational and cultural gaps that exist in our society with the precision of a scalpel.
Korean War vet Walt (Eastwood) lives on a moral code that no longer exists. He has isolated his family that enjoy the luxuries of 21st century life and lives next door to a Hmong family that he does not trust or understand.
As a result, he lives alone with only his faithful dog for company after the death of his wife.

But when a gang starts to threaten his neighbours, he is drawn into the Hmong family’s lives.
Ultimately, Gran Torino is a tale of redemption.
This racist old man finds peace in himself by helping others – you can almost see the character looking younger as the burden is lifted.
Another strength of the story is the pacing. Eastwood, who directed the film, allows the audience to laugh at his deeply troubled character in the first lighter half.
And when the themes become darker, so does the tone of the film, right through to the shocking ending.
Just like in his earlier films, Eastwood’s piercing stare is terrifying, showing there’s still life in the old film star yet.
In fact, following on from the brilliant Changeling, perhaps its fair to say the director is in the prime of his life.