Harry Brown Review

He's had a funny career, Michael Caine. In the business eight years before being 'introduced' in Zulu, the young Mr Micklewhite could do nothing wrong for the better part of the 1960s, and then very little right come the late 1970s. Likewise the 1980s saw him pick up an Oscar for Hannah And Her Sisters before almost immediately signing on for rubbish like Jaws: The Revenge.

It's debatable that Caine's currently enjoying his richest run of form since entering the movie business. Christopher Nolan's Batman films, The Prestige and The Quiet American - the noughties have been pretty nice for Sir Michael. That Harry Brown doesn't look completely out of place amongst these films has little to do with story - an unremarkable revenge tale. Rather it's almost entirely down to the heavy-lidded leading man.

Caine's Harry Brown is a man at odds with modern England. A widowed marine still struggling to cope with the death of his daughter, Brown is shattered when his best friend is murdered by less-than-huggable hoodies. Were this still the country he grew up in, Brown might be content to let the authorities clear up the killing. Harry, however, refuses to take another backwards step. Armed with decades of military experience and a bucket of bile, the guy who looks like he couldn't hurt a fly takes the teens to task.