Vigilante old farts

Bought Harry Brown (2009) from a discount bin of a record store and even though I just saw it earlier this year I gave it another watch. But as I can't stop comparing it to another movie with similar themes that came out not long before it, so here's the review of Gran Torino (2008) also. Lets start with the one that came out first.



Gran Torino (2008)

Vigilante movies are quite a drained subject, so wasn't expecting much from this when I first saw it. Well little did I know what the old man Eastwood had in store for me. This movie took the old vigilante story, treated it with a good taste and made it almost seem fresh. Entertaining throughout and probably the best ending I've seen in these kind of movies. I've seen this now couple of times and still can't find anything bad to say about it. It struck me like a freight train and went straight to my favorite movies. One of the best movies of 2008 and an instant classic.
98%



Harry Brown (2009)

Similar in themes as Gran Torino, an old man gets tired of the gangs terrorizing the neighborhood and takes revenge. But where Gran Torino had some comedy in it also, this one doesn't have one bit. It's grim to the bone and the situation is quite helpless without any glimpse of hope. At start that works great, the violence really hurts and the gang members are truly frightening. All in all the cast is quite brilliant and the acting is this movie's strong part, much thanks to Michael Caine. About two thirds into the movie I was quite surprised how good it was, kind of like Gran Torino's grim evil brother. But unfortunately then things go wrong. The ending is quite bad and it loses the gritty realistic feel that was the driving force of the movie. Well worth watching, but still the ending is a bit too idiotic to make this a great movie.
70%