A young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson. Boring, dull and slow paced 'Bronson' is an overrated and dumb drama with Tom Hardy giving one of his worst perfomances ever!!!

For my first review on IMDb I thought it would be for a film I truly loved, instead it is for this film. This is a film for which I can only describe as a let down. After watching Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Taxi Driver'-esque neon infused drama 'Drive', I decided to watch this film, one which I had been told a lot about. Yes, Tom Hardy is brilliant in this. He is the glue that holds this poorly structured, weakly written film together. Four of my stars are for the main man here. Tom Hardy is outstanding in this role, he perfectly portrays the maniacal and incredibly unhinged Charles Bronson, a man who has infamously been incarcerated for life in prison, despite not officially murdering a single soul, as the film may make you think. His insane outbursts bring a certain perverse glee to the viewer, yet it is a glee that is severely stricken off when he calms down, and becomes a dull narrator for the parts of his life that no one cares about. The other star is for the music. Like in most Winding Refn films the music is amazing. A haunting ambient music strikes the audience,and inter cut with Hardy's surreal pantomine-type interactions with an (imaginary?) audience, the film will chill to the bone. However it is perhaps too loose on story, and too weakly structured for a casual viewing, and more one for those with a deeper interest in Britain's 'most expensive inmate'. 5/10

Not a biopic of Charles Bronson the actor, but rather Charlie Bronson, once dubbed the UK's most violent prisoner, this drama from Nicolas Winding Refn is not your typical biographical movie. The film is structured around shots of the protagonist on an auditorium stage where he makes those listening to him laugh and cheer at varied anecdotes from his life. He also performs a memorable cabaret act on stage and seems genuinely happy for all his experiences in prison... until it gradually becomes obvious that his audience is merely imagined and a direct result of his megalomania and hyper-elevated sense of self-importance. A chilling point comes early on as Bronson reveals that he saw prison as "an opportunity" to make a name for himself and find fame in notoriety; all the prison wardens who he encounters are baffled by his frequently unprovoked violence, but it makes sense for someone bent on achieving fame however possible. We are given precious little background information on Bronson and his upbringing though, like what factors drove him to desire fame, but the snapshot of his life that we do get is absolutely unshakable. Tom Hardy is superb as the charismatic title character subject to near unpredictable mood swings and - as per Refn norm - the film looks and sounds exquisite with vivid colours and a great music score. The very pronounced parallels to 'A Clockwork Orange' work well too, though 'Bronson' is far less concerned with society's reactions to the main character's violence than Kubrick's seminal future-set drama.

At first it was only the poster of this movie that captured my attention, browsing Tom Hardy's filmography, and I watched the trailer online. That same night I couldn't help searching for the movie online and watching the whole thing on my mobile phone. There was not one moment through the movie that I felt distracted or bored, to the contrary of that I did not want to blink so that I wouldn't miss one split of a second of Tom Hardy as Charlie Bronson. The movie did not try to give reasons or justifications of why Charlie Bronson was so self destructive, enjoyed violence and pain and preferred solitary confinement over freedom.There is no logic that you can wrap your head around watching Charlie Bronson portrayed by Tom Hardy, going to prison for armed robbery on a post office, receiving 7 years in prison and ends up being locked away for 34 years, 30 of which are in solitary confinement. You certainly will not find a rational explanation why he would suddenly take a hostage just so that he would start a confrontation with the guards, then strips naked and wait for them to come so that he would beat them up and eventually ends up overpowered, bleeding and in agony.The theatrical comic way which the director adopts in filming this movie helps to lighten the violence and brutality of Bronson yet it also helps bring to life his true nature and a depiction of what was going through his mind. I must say, I found myself laughing with confusion as Bronson prepares to torture these poor guards yet once again. Tom Hardy definitely put his heart and soul into this character, going all the way to stripping naked (full frontal), ramming himself naked into a dozen prison guards, sparing no small details to depict the real raw existence of Charlie Bronson. In the end you don't really know how to feel about Bronson, as he never committed murder though he had ample opportunities to do so which would imply that he might not be as evil as one would expect, at the same time his unexplained and un-triggered incline to violence wins your empathy as well as fear of him.