Tom Hardy stars in “Bronson,” the story of Britain’s most notorious prisoner, who’s spent 34 years behind bars.

Magnet Releasing

“Bronson” portrays a real-life British bruiser as a psychotic performance artist. It’s an assaultive work about an assaultive fellow, Michael Peterson, Britain’s most notorious prisoner.

He’s spent 34 years behind bars, mostly in solitary. When the movie ends, you’ll feel you’ve done hard time yourself.

Peterson adopted the name of action star Charles Bronson when he briefly became a bare-knuckle fighter. With shaved head and handlebar mustache, this Bronson is a musclebound caricature of feral anger. He loves battling prison guards, who approach his cell in riot gear, and he often strips naked in anticipation.

If nothing else, it’s an impressive bit of extreme acting, by “RocknRolla’s” Tom Hardy.

The story follows Bronson from prison to mental hospital to prison, with a short period of freedom. He encounters some debauchees (including Matt King) and takes up with a woman (Juliet Oldfield) — but he just isn’t destined for wedded bliss.

Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn keeps asking what this man wants and beats us over the head with the answer: attention. Fantasy sequences show Bronson hamming it up in front of an enraptured audience.

There’s a hint behind all the frenzy that Bronson has gotten a raw deal, but I’m not sold on the idea.

**Bronson

Starring: Tom Hardy, Matt King, Juliet Oldfield.

Rated: R, contains violence, sexual themes, nudity and a scene of defecation.