Watched this the other day on Netflix Instant View.
Essentially the whole movie is in that trailer. So yet another movie trailer where all the good parts were put up before the film opened. Still if you like what you see there, and could stand to see some more. Go watch it.
Has all the great themes that I talk about here. Gangs ruling the streets in the open, toothless police, and good people disarmed and terrorized and losing faith in the system. Oh and despite rampant gun control, the criminals still seem to be armed to the teeth.
Its a very dark film, and not at all uplifting. Some of these good-man turned badass-vigilante films manage to shoe-horn in a sappy ending, but this one seems to go a more believable direction and tone.
So some good violence, some dark hopeless grit, and some good political points about the filthy underbelly of organized street crime, and big city police.
I really liked it, go check it out.
Also I’ll close with this:
These are my only nits. Harry makes himself sound like some weapons expert but really the Walther P38 in question didn’t fail to function because it had been abused, but because it was never loaded, and Harry shoots like shit, and looks like an amateur when handling a firearm. Also lastly if you have an unarmed drug dealer dying of a gut wound, and you’re planning on torching his little hydroponic grow operation anyway, why waste a bullet on finishing him off? Not like they have Cabella’s in London!
I enjoyed that movie.
I actually watched that about a week ago. I liked it as well the beginning of it made me sick but I cheered when the truck ended it.
As for the weapon maintenance I’ll need to watch that scene closely again because there’s some interesting things that happen. Using it at a pipe will gum the crap out of it, and ultimately he didn’t have a round in the chamber cause the prick was too high to even notice. Besides, it makes for a good line. For defensive side arms, keeping them in proper working order with a round in the chamber falls under maintenance. If I clear the weapon, unless going to the range, it’s for maintenance and that is not complete till it has a new round in the chamber.
As for the gun handling, muscle memory will provide him most of the basics, however remember in “Great Britain” you can’t exactly go practice. So the last time he had even handled a weapon was when he was still in the service, long ago in a galaxy far far away. Mistakes, yes, total detractors or movie breakers they were not. Not to mention getting Cain trained up again on firearms handling was probably difficult as well. Besides the line above and the handling seriously, it’s a movie made in Britain, I’m surprised they could even get props to film the damn thing, much less be very accurate with the handling.
As for the finishing the scumbag dying of a gut wound, you do it. You confirm the kill and ensure it. You’re not there to take pleasure in it, you are not there to make him suffer, you do not rely on the fire to do it for you. You want to make sure that ass hat is “D.E.D.” dead. While bullets may be rare, he also just acquired the d-bags whole stash, even as valuable as they are, making sure the guy has met his end unequivocally is more valuable. If he was worried about saving bullets he could have just used his knife, however that also means getting close and risking him having a surprise.
On this same thread, it you haven’t read Without Remorse by Tom Clancey, do yourself a favor and read it. Think Harry Browne, but young, pissed off, severely motivated and trained.
IIRC he never even put a fresh mag in the gun. I think that P38 was 100% empty save crack soot.
Good points, I wonder about how they filmed the gun handling scenes. I know the Limey Olympic shooting team need to do all their practice in France because of the bullshit laws. I wonder how the movie crews do it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/4162498.stm
Could be deactivated guns for the hero shots and maybe flashpaper guns or 8mm blank shooters for the “Live” play.
One of the (characteristicly English) understated themes of the movie was the transition Harry Brown had to make from virile, violent, weapons-savvy Royal Marine to meek, dependant, defenseless married civilian. And back again. This transition is described/justified in both dialogue (in the pub scenes with his friend who arms himself secretly then asks for training as well as those with the female police officer) and in action; the encounter along the tow path in which HB essentially inadvertantly stabs the thug with his Fairburn-Sykes clone (there’s your muscle memory illustrated, almost better than the shooting scene mentioned above).
There is a (apparently deliberate) social commentary on British social/political assumptions and conventions that contribute to the general darkness of the story and its somewhat ambivolous ending IMO which don’t necessarily travel all that well across the water, not beyond the level of basic human behavior tendencies at least. The fundimental distinctions between the US and UK social matrix are too profound to make any direct transfer at all realistic. That said, there’s always need for an original and well-told reiteration of the cautionary tale regarding hubris and Michael Caine carries this one off with his usual style and dignity intact.
Why waste a bullet on a dying drug dealer?
I am not sure that I would want to leave a live enemy behind me – dying or not.
There are MANY instances of apparently mortally-wounded enemies causing damage before they die – in real life as well as Hollywood.
One thing I found very interesting is that the Council area that the film was supposed to be about was where Michael Caine grew up. Interesting interview, that.
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I always kind of figured, what with the differences between British and American English, that “maintained”, in that context, referred to “keeping up with the status of”, rather than “performing regularly-scheduled cleanings/function checks”.
In any case, an outstanding movie, made all the better by the country it came out of – there may be hope there yet, but not a whole lot.