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Reviews Counted:64
Fresh:50
Rotten:14
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: Undeniably gripping, Bronson forces the viewer to make some hard decisions about where the line between art and exploitation lies.
Rated: R [See Full Rating]
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Oct 9, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: In 1974, a hot-headed 19 year old named Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawn-off shotgun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a post... [More]
Starring: Tom Hardy, Hugh Ross, Juliet Oldfield, Jonny Philips
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
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Director and co-writer Nicolas Winding Refn strives mightily to match his star crescendo for crescendo, which can be exhausting. But the film is nimble and spare enough to absorb most of the director's outré inspirations.
It’s a meditation on the art of rage -- an action painting passing itself off as an action movie.
Top CriticDone 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.
If you want to spend two hours with a psychopath who loves nothing more than getting naked and brawling with prison guards, this is for you. I prefer vintage Kurosawa.
A figure this luridly fascinating, a personality this ludicrously outsized, warrants something more than your typical biopic.
A stylized portrait of a criminal famous in his native Britain as perhaps the most violent man in Her Majesty's prison system, Bronson serves primarily as a showcase for Tom Hardy's undeniably brilliant performance.
Strap yourself in for a jaw-dropping performance from Tom Hardy as he completely inhabits the role of Britain's most notorious prisoner in this highly stylised piece of mischievous cinematic vaudeville.
...not a great film but garners a strong performance from its star [Tom Hardy].
Nicolas Winding Refn ("The Pusher" trilogy) takes an experimental approach to the biopic, letting his subject guide the way through his life so far as if it were a piece of performance art.
Hardy's range is impressive, and he makes Refn's latest an arresting spectacle, if not a particularly enlightening one.
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Top Critic“Nuffin’ wonky about my upbringing,” Bronson says, early on. Nothing wonky about Hardy’s performance, either.
Top Critic[Tom Hardy gives] one of the best performances of the year, maybe. It is certainly one of the most committed.
Charles Bronson seems like a bit of a sweetheart, when he's not trying to gouge someone's eyes out.
A pointless exercise in morbidity.
Top CriticBronson is one of those “based on a true story” dramatizations where the theatrically staged drama only gets in the way of the more interesting truth.
Top CriticRefn presents this jolly madman in a variety of showbiz fantasies (wearing clown makeup, addressing a packed theater) to tease out the weird disjuncture between his penal isolation and his tabloid fame in the UK.
Top CriticIt's impossible to deny Hardy's astounding performance, which partially redeems the picture. Looking like a mad circus strongman, his moustache seeming to twirl all by itself, he's so fully immersed in his character, you fear for his sanity.
Top CriticHe's spent 34 years behind bars, mostly in solitary. When the movie ends, you'll feel you've done hard time yourself.
Top CriticThe movie takes on a fearsome purity, refusing to find reasons, indifferent to motives, not even finding causes and effects. It is 92 minutes of rage, acted by Tom Hardy.
Top Critic
October 08, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Retreat From Couples Retreat
This week at the movies brings only one wide release: Couples Retreat, starring Vince Vaughn and Kristen Bell in a comedy about a group of friends in marriage counseling in a... More...
September 29, 2009:
New: Brand New Trailer and Poster. 
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September 13, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
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January 27, 2009:
click for trailer and trailer review
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