Rent Bronson (2009)

A Life of Waste - Bronson review by CP Customer

The majority are aware of the real-life Bronson, a small time crook hell-bent on establishing a fame persona since his depositing into the prison system. I could debate the merits of this film, Bronson is intelligent but gives into his urges for violence and infamy. The futile nature of his existence becomes apparent despite his artistic tastes. This career prisoner while imposing comes across as a sad and lonely individual, prone to fantasies and ego trips. Tom Hardy is terrific, but we don't spend much time outside the company of Bronson. What impact did his lifestyle have on his family or relationships? Overall the film comes across as selfish and self indulgent.

Surprised me - Bronson review by MB

I generally avoid films with violence in - but rather than feeling gratuitous, this portrait of 'Britain's most violent prisoner' is presented more as a puzzle: 'Why was he so violent? What lies beneath the violence?'

The presentation is more arthouse than, say, The Sweeney (that's the best reference I can come up with, I said I don't watch violent films) - it's quirky and stylish without being pretentious.

Tom Hardy is great - and the whole supporting cast is believable. Left me feeling intrigued and curious to know more about this guy.

Great also to hear New Order on the soundtrack.

Tom Hardy’s best performance in a wildly original, if uneven film - Bronson review by TB

For people in the UK, Charles Bronson evokes many different reactions. For many, he is simply Britain’s most violent prisoner, responsible for multiple hostage-takings and criminal damage/prison protests. Enormous amounts of media coverage has followed him and the mythology which has built up around him means that this image has kept evolving and reaching new heights of absurdity. A recent documentary (2023) which was produced, leading up to his parole hearing, the first public one in British courts, also was very honest in showing that a lot of these outrageous news stories were made up by Bronson himself. But this film from 2008 also provided in many ways a highly stylised, but very loose with the facts biopic, to add yet another dimension to the Bronson myth.

But there is also no getting away from it, this film does not in any way show Bronson in a good light. Whilst there is humour aplenty from the different situations that are portrayed; some truthful, others expanding on the various stories and apocryphal linked to him, none of them leave you in any doubt that this is an extremely dangerous & unstable man. There is absolutely an argument that could be made about how the system brutalised him and in some way turned him into the monster he now is, but that falls apart quite quickly, especially with Bronson himself both in the film and in real life saying with massive enthusiasm the joy he had in causing absolute carnage and chaos. The man is quite simply a total psycho and I do think it was right that his parole was denied.

Bronson (the film) very clearly follows in the vein of A Clockwork Orange, with extreme violence set to classical music the most obvious comparison. The film also tries to spend a decent amount of time showing Bronson outside prison when he was released for a short period. But the vast majority takes place within the various prisons around the country. I do like that the prisons are shown as at times horrific places, with brutal punishment dished out by the screws. And welcomingly, there is a real focus on the horror of a psychiatric hospital, as well as the extreme creativity/masterful artist Bronson is.

But the standout is and always will be Tom Hardy’s performance. It is a staggering, off-the-wall, fearless and brilliant performance. This film would totally fail without him and his commitment, which included 2 false starts to filming where he bulked up for the role, only for the project to fall through and him having to lose the weight/muscle to do other parts before putting it all back on again. But his voice, built up from thousands of hours of phone calls and meet-ups with the real Bronson; his body which he transformed to be able to convincingly play him and his characterisation are flawless. My star rating is also mainly based on his performance, as the actual film itself is in many ways quite one-note.

Definitely a fantastic watch, but not something which really gets to the heart of Bronson as a man, other than someone who liked to cause carnage and is an extremely talent artist.