01-25-2016, 03:10 PM
This is based on the real life of Charlie Bronson (born Michael Peterson), England’s most notorious prisoner. Tom Hardy puts in a brilliant performance as Bronson. The DVD extras show how Tom bulked up using a workout regimen limited to small spaces, duplicating Bronson’s own regimen (Bronson is a fitness fanatic who’s spent almost his entire life in solitary confinement) to achieve a very similar monster build.
Bronson comes across as highly intelligent but with a machismo-driven need to cause major disruptions. This usually takes the form of brawls, where he takes on guards, fellow prisoners, or anyone else who happens to be convenient. The very way he prepares for these battles is crazy (without giving too much away, Tom Hardy shows a lot of flesh, including naughty bits).
The movie uses lots of inventive techniques to avoid becoming too stagebound -- or should I say cell-bound. Some of these are brilliant. But the main reason to see this movie is for Tom Hardy’s performance.
Charlie Bronson (who took the name from the actor) is still in prison, still in isolation from what I can tell, though there’s been petitions to get him out of solitary. He’s published numerous books, writes poetry, is an award-winning artist (with exhibitions of his “outsider art”), and he recently renounced violence and took a new name, Charles Salvador, in honor of his favorite painter, Salvador Dali.
Recommended, despite the absence of nymphomaniacs.
Bronson comes across as highly intelligent but with a machismo-driven need to cause major disruptions. This usually takes the form of brawls, where he takes on guards, fellow prisoners, or anyone else who happens to be convenient. The very way he prepares for these battles is crazy (without giving too much away, Tom Hardy shows a lot of flesh, including naughty bits).
The movie uses lots of inventive techniques to avoid becoming too stagebound -- or should I say cell-bound. Some of these are brilliant. But the main reason to see this movie is for Tom Hardy’s performance.
Charlie Bronson (who took the name from the actor) is still in prison, still in isolation from what I can tell, though there’s been petitions to get him out of solitary. He’s published numerous books, writes poetry, is an award-winning artist (with exhibitions of his “outsider art”), and he recently renounced violence and took a new name, Charles Salvador, in honor of his favorite painter, Salvador Dali.
Recommended, despite the absence of nymphomaniacs.
I'm nobody's pony.
