The real-life story of Britain's toughest prisoner, and not a film I would choose to watch – except when it comes to the casting of the lead actor. Tom Hardy, who I've noticed cropping up more and more in recent years, gives a tour-de-force performance as a psychotic inmate and man to whom violence is a way of life. His eerie voice, hulking frame and dead eyes all combine perfectly to make him one of cinema's most memorable villains in recent years, and with most of the scenes consisting of him speaking monologues in solitary cells, the film belongs to him.

Which is good, because the story isn't up to much. It's a loose dramatisation of the life of Michael Peterson, a man who robbed a post office and ended up becoming Charles Bronson, one of the most famous convicts of all time. To be honest, the events aren't all that interesting, and in other hands the continuous brawls with prison officers could become repetitive. Thank Heaven then for the presence of Nicolas Winding Refn (VALHALLA RISING) as director. This is a guy who understands cinema and the beauty of cinema, and he makes the film intensely watchable as a result. BRONSON looks a thing of beauty, even if that beauty is stark, brutal and minimalistic.

Michael Gordon Peterson (Tom Hardy) is a notorious British prisoner after being juvenile delinquent and then in 1974, sentenced to 7 years for post office robbery. It's a volatile incarceration and spends much of it in solitary. In 1988, he was finally released after time added and begin a career as a bare knuckle boxing with the name Charles Bronson. He continues to get into trouble with the law and returns to prison.

By the style of the movie, it is an attempt by the character Bronson to explain his life to the audience. It's an interesting idea. It's a total character study and a great opportunity for Tom Hardy. As for the watchability, it has its slow parts and it struggles to find the flow. Violence can come out of nowhere. Overall, it's a great performance in an artistically challenging movie.

Charles Bronson the notorious prisoner who took the name from the more famous actor has achieved almost celebrity status with decades spent behind bars. In essence two acts of robbery has lead to lengthy jail sentence because of his behaviour in prison.

Tom Hardy who probably came to people's attention when he played an experimental clone of Captain Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis bulked up to play Brosnan and with director Nicolas Winding Refn, we have a stylised and avantgarde film which does not glorify Bronson but presents him someone who is institutionalised, a man who has reached a stage where he cannot contemplate life in the outside and hence his violent behaviour in prison.

Bronson narrates the film like a music hall star, with Refn at the helm this is not a low budget Brit flick 'Scum' wannabee with Ray Winstone in a starring role. Instead its a violent, disturbing but thoughtful and even sensitive film. A fantasy portrayal of a disturbed man.