Bronson (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Director Interviews-Crew-Director Theatrical Trailer Teaser Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	88:49 (Case: 92)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (57:36)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nicolas Winding Refn
Studio Distributor	Vertigo Films Madman Entertainment	Starring	Tom Hardy Matt King
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Michael Petersen, played here by Tom Hardy in what is sure to be his signature role for years to come, has long been regarded as Britain's most violent criminal. Petersen has been locked up for 34 years and spent 30 of those in solitary confinement, following an initial 7 year sentence. This certified nutter (at least at one point in time) changed his name to Charlie Bronson, in honour of the Death Wish star, on one of the 69 days he spent out of incarceration over the course of those 34 years (hence the film's title).

    Petersen/Bronson has long been used as a political football in the UK. The right wing uses him to illustrate the need for harsh prison sentences and conditions. The left uses him as the ultimate example of the justice systems' failure. Interestingly, this film avoids the path of a biopic and does not retell the many incidents he has been involved in or put his existence into a wider social context. Instead this is an intimate character study of a morbidly fame-hungry sociopathic exhibitionist that, through a veneer of black humour, examines how Michael Petersen became the notorious Bronson (taking a few creative liberties with the facts and events along the way).

    Tom Hardy virtually puts on a one-man show for the film, save for a couple of brief but noteworthy appearances from Matt King and James Lance, and a brilliant show it is. Hardy manages some profound character development within fairly limited social constraints onscreen and some succinct but showy narration. He is not afraid to get naked and greased up for a fight either.

    Larry Smith's cinematography deserves special mention, along with Nicolas Winding Refn’s dynamic direction. The pair has worked in perfect sync and paint an engrossing, dream-like narrative, the likes of which have not been seen since Stanley Kubrick turned up his toes. In many ways, Bronson shares a lot more common ground with A Clockwork Orange than with the first obvious point of comparison, Australia's Chopper (with which the film shares a lot of concepts but relatively little in terms of execution). Bronson himself is in many ways like a real-life counterpart of A Clockwork Orange’s Alex. Bronson’s moog-ey score further borrows from the style of A Clockwork Orange.

    Bronson pulls no punches and is a landmark of low-budget filmmaking (it was purportedly put together for under £150,000).

Video

    The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The video quality on offer is an accurate representation of the theatrical look of the film. The image is slightly soft and features a stylish veneer of coarse grain, particularly in darker scenes. There is a reasonable level of shadow detail in the image. The colour palette is heavily skewed towards grimy browns, yellows and greens, desaturating most bright colours to give the film a dated, faux 1970s, look.

    There is no sign of aliasing, compression artefacts or film artefacts in the image.

    No subtitles are present on the disc.

     This is a RSDL disc with a layer break occurring between scenes at 57:36.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 Kbps) and 2.0 (224 Kbps) audio tracks are present for the film.

    The audio is clear and well mixed. The dialogue is easy to discern and is well placed in the mix. The audio is well synchronised to the video.

    The film features perfectly chosen music throughout, all of which sits well in the mix. Most is a mixture of classical pieces juxtaposed with thick vintage synth pieces.

    The surrounds are used intelligently, though not extensively, throughout the film. The result is a befittingly uneasy environment. The subwoofer is used relatively sparingly, but adds some rich bass to the score.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
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Subwoofer
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Audio Commentary with Nicolas Winding Refn (Director)

     A worthwhile, refreshingly candid commentary with the director. Not too much dead air in this one, and the man has enough interesting to say to cover what patches there are.

Interview with Nicolas Winding Refn (Director)

     A rapid fire five-minute interview with the director that was specifically recorded for the Australian DVD release, in which he sounds to be addressing a series of prepared questions about the film (none of which are explicitly asked). The interview is straight to the point and concisely offers a wealth of insight into the film’s production and reception. Brilliant stuff.

Trailers

     A theatrical trailer and teaser trailer for the film are present. Both are artistically assembled and do a good job of selling the film.

    The Region 1 edition offers a near completely different set of extras to the Region 4 release, and a much larger set in number, as well as English subtitles. The only extra in common in the two releases is the theatrical trailer. The extras not featured locally are:

• Charles Bronson Monologues
• Making of Documentary
• Training Tom Hardy
• Interviews with Nicolas Winding Refn (Writer/Director), Tom Hardy (Actor - Charles Bronson), Matt King (Actor - Paul Daniels)
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage

    Given the high quality of the extras on the Region 4 release it is hard to outright claim one version to be better than the other, although on pure numbers the Region 1 edition is the winner.

    An intimate and occasionally extreme character study of a barking mad sociopathic exhibitionist, that shares a number of similarities with A Clockwork Orange without ever feeling inferior. Bronson is a landmark of modern low budget filmmaking.

    Video and audio on this disc are both of a high standard. The extras are limited in number but of a particularly good standard.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall