Who's In It: Tom Hardy, Matt King, James Lance, Amanda Burton
The Basics: Imagine if a frequently naked, criminally insane person mounted his own one-man show at your local theater. That's more or less what happens here with the true story of Michael Peterson, a rage-filled sociopath who wound up in a British prison and then stayed there for over 30 years because he was too violent to be let outside. In prison he changed his name to Charles Bronson in honor of the Death Wish star and then spent whatever non-solitary confinement time he had (in which it seems he did a lot of hurling of himself against stone walls) attacking guards and other inmates. Great mustache, though.
What's The Deal: The only lesson this movie will teach you about bad guys like this is that they are REALLY AWESOME, but that you'd better not go near them or they'll smash your face in with whatever's handy. I'm not saying it's responsible filmmaking, or even very enlightening as to the "why" of this sort of mental illness (and that's seemingly what's actually what's going on with Mr. Bronson here or he wouldn't wind up with half his chin falling off his face at the end of the film--and relax, that's barely a spoiler), but it's hilariously effective. Where else but the movies can you walk away from a story about a deranged person, become his fan and think that he seems like a handsome and stylish man you'd like to hang out with sometime, provided he could keep his clothes on and his arms and legs were totally chained up?
Where It Comes From: Director Nicolas Winding Refn might not be a name you know, but he's Danish and he's responsible for the wickedly energetic Pusher trilogy that you should check out. This one is a similar crime-is-cool blast of violence. Not for people who can't deal with extreme punching and penises flopping around.
Where You've Seen Tom Hardy Before: A lot of places. He was in Star Trek: Nemesis and he's a regular in all those Guy Ritchie-ish Brit capers full of loutish guys, always as a supporting player. This is his star-making role. Meanwhile character actor Matt King holds his own as a comic foil as a fearless, dryly gay inmate who sidesteps the Bronson wrath.
Target Demographic: People who think A Clockwork Orange is a how-to film.