Like a cross between A Clockwork Orange and an extended music video...
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08/07/09
Bronson (2009)
78
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:64
Fresh:50
Rotten:14
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: Undeniably gripping, Bronson forces the viewer to make some hard decisions about where the line between art and exploitation lies.
Synopsis: In 1974, a hot-headed 19 year old named Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawn-off shotgun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a post... [More]
Starring: Tom Hardy, Hugh Ross, Juliet Oldfield, Jonny Philips
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
Reviews for Bronson
Top CriticTom Hardy is just outstanding, actually all the performances are pitch perfect for the material. It’s a class act this film, it just will not appeal to audiences who don’t want to be confronted with violence when they go to the movies.
08/05/09
Top CriticIt is a mesmerising performance from Tom Hardy. But as a study of this man, it didn't interest me at all. I thought it was rather facile.
08/05/09
Top CriticWinding Refn has created a gripping tale of the institutionalised madness of this violent criminal who relishes in his new found alter ego.
08/04/09
Top CriticGripping and visceral, ugly and beautiful, terrible and haunting, Bronson is quite brilliant.
07/29/09
Top CriticDirector and co-writer Nicolas Winding Refn strives mightily to match his star crescendo for crescendo, which can be exhausting. But the film is nimble and spare enough to absorb most of the director's outré inspirations.
11/24/09
It’s a meditation on the art of rage -- an action painting passing itself off as an action movie.
11/24/09
Done differently, the cat-and-mouse brawling could get tiresome, but Tom Hardy as Bronson -- with his shaved head, handlebar moustache, and glittering eyes -- is mesmerizing.
11/19/09
If you want to spend two hours with a psychopath who loves nothing more than getting naked and brawling with prison guards, this is for you. I prefer vintage Kurosawa.
11/13/09
A figure this luridly fascinating, a personality this ludicrously outsized, warrants something more than your typical biopic.
11/13/09
A stylized portrait of a criminal famous in his native Britain as perhaps the most violent man in Her Majesty's prison system, Bronson serves primarily as a showcase for Tom Hardy's undeniably brilliant performance.
11/13/09
Strap yourself in for a jaw-dropping performance from Tom Hardy as he completely inhabits the role of Britain's most notorious prisoner in this highly stylised piece of mischievous cinematic vaudeville.
11/12/09
...not a great film but garners a strong performance from its star [Tom Hardy].
11/09/09
Nicolas Winding Refn ("The Pusher" trilogy) takes an experimental approach to the biopic, letting his subject guide the way through his life so far as if it were a piece of performance art.
11/09/09
Hardy's range is impressive, and he makes Refn's latest an arresting spectacle, if not a particularly enlightening one.
11/08/09
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11/06/09
“Nuffin’ wonky about my upbringing,” Bronson says, early on. Nothing wonky about Hardy’s performance, either.
11/05/09
[Tom Hardy gives] one of the best performances of the year, maybe. It is certainly one of the most committed.
11/04/09
Charles Bronson seems like a bit of a sweetheart, when he's not trying to gouge someone's eyes out.
10/30/09
A pointless exercise in morbidity.
10/30/09
Latest News for Bronson
October 08, 2009:
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This week at the movies brings only one wide release: Couples Retreat, starring Vince Vaughn and Kristen Bell in a comedy about a group of friends in marriage counseling in a... More...
September 29, 2009:
New: Brand New Trailer and Poster. 
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September 13, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
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January 27, 2009:
click for trailer and trailer review
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