The film that brought Hardy to the world is also the one that gave him his most exciting role - Britain's most violent prisoner, Charles Bronson (born Michael Gordon Peterson, who renamed himself after the actor out of admiration). Nicolas Winding Refn opted for a very skewed presentation, externalising Bronson's internal tics and thus giving Hardy the opportunity to run the whole gamut of psychosis. The film is presented as a stage show, where Bronson delivers his life story to an applauding (but nonexistent) audience, leading into stylised recreations of his violent escapades. Bronson knows he's a criminal and is aware of the immorality of what he does, but is still absolutely fine with doing it. He swaggers about with a clear, unknowing sense of purpose and is so un-Hardy it (almost literally) hurts. The real life Bronson (now going by the name Charles Salvador) himself loved the film, describing it as "theatrical, creative, and brilliant," and who are we to argue with him. Seriously, if the movie's anything to go by, you don't want to disagree with him. But it's not all fun and scary games with Hardy - he has delivered some pretty cack performances too. Here are the five worst.
