This is the second time around for "Brighton Rock," from a Graham Greene masterpiece. It's not quite up to the 1947 original, when a young Richard Attenborough, later to direct "Gandhi," made Pinkie Brown into a frightening killer, but it's an effective thriller with fine performances from Andrea Riseborough as Rose, who loves Pinkie beyond desperation; and the always impressive Helen Mirren, this time as Ida, the hard-nosed, worldly, tough operator of a tea room where Rose works.
The basic story, however, belongs to Pinkie, and while Sam Riley is strong and almost sadistic enough, he lacks some of the adolescent fire and love of killing that Attenborough brought to his classic portrayal.
Shot in Eastbourne, an English coastal resort that sits in for Brighton, the remake, written and directed by Rowan Joffe (son of Roland), benefits from John Mathieson's glorious cinematography. The antique style and current sleaze of the Coney Island-style amusement pier is a perfect backdrop. Joffe, by the way, moved the film's time frame to 1964, when the Mods and the Rockers were going at it. This allows for street chases involving motorbikes and motorcycles, and many days of work for stunt men.
Pinkie, whose weapons of choice are knife and straight razor, is trying diligently to rise through the ranks of a criminal gang, and when he gets a chance to make his bones, he's right on it in a bloody battle under the boardwalk. Unfortunately, a hustling photographer gets his picture, with his victim and Rose. That causes a great many plot complications, and gives Riseborough a chance to shine as Rose, who will do anything to get attention and affection from Pinkie.
Mirren, as is her style, walks off with every scene she's in, and her relationship with the wonderful John Hurt as Phil is a delight. She also has the absolutely perfect curtain line, and it's where the film should have ended, rather than wandering around for another 20 minutes or so. Mirren and aging gang lord Colleoni (Andy Serkis) are celebrating in a hotel dining room, and when he orders a bottle of Champagne, she inserts, "and book us a room, too." When he demurs, mentioning problems because of his age, she looks at him, her eyes wide with desire and her lashes fluttering a little, and says, "That's all right. I know how to make a man happy."
It's as fine a line as the one Lauren Bacall dropped on Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not," when she murmured, "You know how to whistle, don't you? You just put your lips together and blow."
A good action movie, directed and acted with high style.
Brighton Rock Opens today at the Plaza Frontenac.
— Joe