Harry Brown (Daniel Barber, 2009)

Michael Caine returns to his childhood manor as a bereaved pensioner on a hellish South London council estate, ruled over by feral hoodies. He strives to keep a low profile, but the murder of his best friend by the street trash sends him over the edge and it all goes very Get Carter as Caine wreaks righteous vengeance on all and sundry. Think Death Wish as directed by Shane Meadows.
You can see why Caine was drawn to return to the mean streets: on one level, Barber's film is a wholeheartedly pessimistic depiction of a broken society that the veteran actor fled long ago in disgust. The nihilism must have concorded with, and justified, his world view. Regardless of that, you have to be glad he did: he remains a magnetic screen presence, and impossible not to root for on his mission even though you know all along that he's carving through cartoon ogres, some drawn so evil that they couldn't possibly function in the real world.

6/10