VIDEO: The trailer for Bronson
From Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn comes a fantasy bio-pic of Britain's notorious Charlie Bronson, a larger-than-life character who, after swiping his identity from tough-guy actor Charles Bronson, transformed from bare-knuckle prizefighter into "Britain's most violent prisoner." In real life, Bronson made headlines with his taking of hostages; Refn now weaves surreal, fictionalized versions of those incidents narrated from inside this ferocious man's knotty skull.
The film has a Clockwork Orange vibe, in its operatic style and its meditations on ultra-violence. 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.
