How can I best describe Charles Bronson? The prisoner, not the actor. Institutionalised? Lover? Fighter? Attention seeker? Criminal? Product of the system? Monster? Crazy? No, wait, he was certified sane.
This film is similarly hard to describe. More a collection of scenes rather than a straight forward linear story. Snippets portraying the life of a man who was motivated only by a desire to be famous.
Maybe this is telling of the research into a character who is shown to be obsessed with fame yet whose objectives to get it remain unclear. Bronson's own uncertainty is repeatedly the cause of violent outbursts and hostage takings.
Bronson's confused personality is perfectly embodied by the brilliant Tom Hardy (RocknRolla). Encapsulating his twists in mood and focus with nothing more than a slow turn of the head work to great effect.
Hardy draws you in. The joy and madness in his eyes felt familiar, I found myself understanding this man's need to fight seven prison guards naked whilst painted black. This film makes you feel guilty knowing how unhinged we all can be, and smiling as you watch it.
We are shown a character who only knows this way of living, who spent a total of 131 days as a free man.
Comfort seems to be uncomfortable for Charlie. Every friend he makes or plaudits he achieves are short lived due to his own actions. Bronson destroys every chance he's given.
This is not a film that celebrates the life that Charles Bronson has chosen.
You see the disgusting state of the prisons in which he was kept, the cages his escapades left him trapped in. It is incredible that this does not discourage him.
Which begs the question 'What are you supposed to do with someone like this?' Someone who does not mind being beaten with battons and likes the 'hotel rooms' he finds himself in.
The film succeeds in not really taking sides but simply displaying the series of events that make up the highlights of Bronson's life, letting the audience make its own judgement.
No doubt the real Bronson would be delighted with this - it would surely be his greatest hits.
At the end you are left saddened by the fact this man has spent more than half his life in prison and the knowledge that it will almost certainly end there.
Again, this is something that would surely please the real life Bronson, to know that even if his escapades fade into memory, his efforts to gain fame did not go unrecognised.
Future generations will know him through this film; he got his fame after all.
7/10 Dissect Bronson's psyche with your mates - not a film for all the family.
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