4 Out of 5 StarsTom Hardy magnetizes the screen with his performance as "Britain's Most Violent" criminal, Charlie Bronson. "Bronson"
is a semi-true tale about
how a man born Michael Peterson decided he needed money to support his
wife and new baby, so the 19 year old robbed a post office..and then
began his first jail term. Michael discovers his real calling is
violence as mantel to fame. Before long, he has a reputation as
brawler, a kind of anarchist inmate done up as circus strongman. In the
one period he actually gains freedom, Michael heads off to a
whorehouse, hooks up with trannies and prostitutes then becomes a prize
fighter who gets christened Charlie Bronson by his roguish
hustler/manager.
Soon after, Bronson commits a crime that sends him back, and he becomes the celebrity Charlie. Hardy burns with the violence of a psychotic carny; he spends parts of the movies telling Bronson's story onstage in stylized characters. The guards are terrified of him, yet he takes all comers with an almost celebratory glee until he is left bloodied and - once again - free to expand on his legend. hardy also took on an amazing training regiment for the movie, gaining almost 42 pounds in bulk by doing 2500 push-ups daily to not only get into physical form, but the mental one.
"Bronson" seethes with mentality. From the surrealistic asylum dance scene to the narrow cage Bronson is locked into at the film's end, the film applies its excessive violence without much rationale; Charlie acts violently because he just is. There are more than a few comparisons to A Clockwork Orange here (especially in the cross cutting between Bronson's monologues and his history) but this movie, due mainly to Hardy's stunning performance, packs a wallop that few others in the true crime genre can match.
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