The Details

Harry Brown

Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Charlie Creed-Miles

Directed by Daniel Barber

Rated R

Beyond the Weekly

Harry Brown

IMDb: Harry Brown

Rotten Tomatoes: Harry Brown

Given his startling ability to turn on a dime from cheery bluster to dead-eyed savagery, it was only a matter of time before Michael Caine got to star in London’s version of Death Wish. Like its model, this tale of a kindly pensioner’s descent into vigilante violence seems far too pleased with its own amped-up scuzziness, but it does provide Caine with his finest showcase in years, affording him multiple opportunities to wrap that silky-steel voice around barely veiled threats and mock-sorrowful farewells. Emily Mortimer fares less well in the obligatory role of the Voice of Conscience whose moral outrage inevitably crumbles the instant her own personal safety is threatened. No atheists in foxholes, no pacifists in chokeholds.