Michael Peterson always dreamed of being famous. Sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office with a makeshift army, he ended up spending 34 years, including 30 in solitary confinement. He is now known as Charles Bronson, aka “Britain’s most violent prisoner”.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s bruising, bare-knuckle biopic offers an unflinching look at the life of one of the most notorious criminals in the world. Tom Hardy gives a star-making turn as the psychotic, real-life protagonist in a film so wired on macho adrenaline it is surely destined for cult status.