20 Prison Movies You Must See Before You Die

17. Bronson (2008)

If Bronson was the movie that gave Tom Hardy the rest of his career, then that'd make sense: in Bronson, in which the actor plays notorious British nutcase Charles Bronson, he unleashes what can only be described as a tour-de-force of a performance. The story of Bronson concerns the titular psychopath's life and times, most of which are spent behind bars. Bronson deludes himself into believing that he should be famous, and so he sets about achieving that - by any means necessary. Hardy - who bulked up for the role and actually wears a moustache made from the real Bronson's own - plays the character as a scary, unstable monster... but he's not without a sense of humour, either. Incredibly brash, violent and packed to the brim with obscenities, director Nicolas Winding Refn (who also directed Drive) delivers an unforgettable and hard-hitting tale of a man who actually loves prison. How's that for a unique angle, Hollywood?