Brando Unauthorized (2010) Reviews

• Really? Is this just a bad joke

  marrasq2012-01-12

  Marlon Brando was the greatest actor of all times, this movie is a disgrace. I'm so disappointed and sad. I hope someday there will be a different kind of Brando-movie, and it will respect Marlon and his legacy. His life story deserves a great script,great director and great actors. This guy, who had a master plan to make this kind of B-rate movie of Brando, should be ashamed of himself. I'm so ashamed, that I even watched this whole movie. I will erase it from my memory,and think that this movie don't even exist. Thank god Marlon isn't here to see this awful parody of his life. There's a one thing that I liked on this movie, Damian Chapa's voice was just like Marlon's. Hence 1 star.

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• Should have gone straight to DVD.

  lawriekelly2011-07-06

  The life and loves of Marlon Brando as told through the drug fuelled ramblings of his son Christian ( Ricco Chapa) to a group of his fellow junkies who unfolds the story in chapters for the price of his next fix. Director and main lead Damien Chapa should have left the legacy and legend that was Brando alone,this low budget movie has some notably cringe-worthy moments and will certainly not win any awards for best make up or costume.It really does feel like a badly made for TV biopic with Chapa totally out of place as a young Brando starting out on his movie career and gets even worse as the character ages throughout the film. It feels like a movie made by a graduate of film school on his first project who has yet to grasp the fundamentals of cinematography and the rudiments of shooting in black and white. Many Brando devotees may not like some of the questionable accusations the film throws out about him and true admirers of the man will not,in my opinion enjoy this film at all.Overall a poorly shot,poorly acted movie which certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

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• Falwed but interesting

  jimlacy20032011-07-19

  (Only slight spoilers here) I gave this movie a try and it almost lost me right at the beginning. You can see right away it is obviously pretty low budget in a bad way. Here you are at this strange rather poor opening scene where it kind of looks like some kind of group of druggies, and wondering what as this at all to do with Marlon Brando. It turns out to be Christen Brando. Okay now I get it.. And then Damian Chapa is on the scene which under the context took a while to realize he was supposed to be the young Brando. Now I've seen Damian in a several movies over the years and seems overall to be a pretty good and charismatic actor. But it threw me off here as if you ever seen any photos of young Brando he was in excellent shape at least partially due to the fact that he was doing a lot of manual labor jobs at the time. No offense but Damian Chapa should have probably lost around 30lbs for the role. And, or, maybe better makeup, hairstyling, etc., would have made the fit more. Chapa certainly looks like Brando anyhow. I gave it a little more time and despite the bad acting (supporting actors, not Chapa) and some bad contextual moments, like the few NY scenes that were obviously modern day and not the 50's, I got drawn into it and watched the whole thing. Like a lot of such dramatic biographies it centers a lot around sensationalism and focuses on negative/bad aspects a lot. It would be nice if such biographies highlighted more of a positive side, the things that make these artists stand out in their world class talents, etc. Something he (Brando) did made him stand out as one of the best and most memorable actors of all time. Be nice if it were more wins rather then all the trials and tribulations shown. Better for more ups, then downs. But then maybe it makes less of an interesting movie for many with out all these sordid bits. In the end I found it to be pretty interesting and entertaining overall. If you are in the mood for some old fashioned gossipy drama give it a shot!

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