| Hooligans / Green Street | |
| Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: Lexi Alexander Release: 2005 Cast Elijah Wood Charlie Hunnam Claire Forlani Marc Warren Leo Gregory Henry Goodman Geoff Bell Rafe Spall Kieran Bew Ross McCall Francis Pope Christopher Hehir | 
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Average Blamo User Rating :   (82 votes) | |
| Movie Review by Pretentious Bread | |
| be a term more recognised by Americans. And for some Americans watching the film, It may come as a slight surprise that football 'hooligans' are not quite the same as what Bill Hicks once made them out to be ("Oh no, some hooligans knocked over some dustbins in Shaftsbury!"). Football Hooligans are in a word, cunts, and it may not be coincidence that that's the word they all use to address one another, "YOOOOOU FACKING CUNT!"
This film takes the story of a Harvard Journalism student, Matt Buckner, who is wrongly expelled when his dorm-mate hides his stash of drugs amongst Matt's possessions. He goes to visit his sister who lives in London where he meets her Husband, Steve Dunham. It just so happens that Steve is an ex-"firm" leader, or the "Major" who used to be in charge of the 'GSE' or 'Green Street Elite'. From there on he is introduced to Steve's brother, Pete. This is when Elijah Wood gets introduced to firm warfare. Bare fisted, organised, no holds barred combat between groups of rival firms is the order of the day. The GSE is the main West Ham firm, their main rivals being the infamously violent Millwall firm. Elijah Wood, or Matt, is taken to Saturday’s game at Upton park (West Ham's stadium) and is ambushed afterwards by a rival firm before he is rescued out of the blue by his new best mate, Pete and his cronies. Following this, an unlikely story unravels where the gawdy Harvard journalism student mixes in with the GSE and becomes one of them, baptised by the blood drawn from his first street fight. This is where the film starts getting quite incredulous. For irony's sake, all hooligans seem to agree that the ultimate enemy is the "bloody journo's", with their reporting of hooligans in a bad light and what not, the facking cunts! Despite this, they unwittingly take "the yank" under their wing and educate him in the ways of hooliganism. Although so far I've been fairly sceptical of the film, I won't deny that it is interesting and it probably gives a partially accurate depiction of hooliganism. With that said some of the film seemed plain stupid to me. I was quite amazed that Matt's mentor, Pete who spends almost all his recreational time getting drunk and starting fights, turned out to be a History and P.E. teacher. Hmm, bit unlikely but it doesn't stop there. Another member of the group turns out to be none other than an airline pilot! WHAT THE FUCK? So he makes a brilliant living during the week, and then somehow is free every match day to kick the shit out of folks alongside his mates who are all on the dole? And the fact that someone as intelligent as a Harvard Journalism, star student could see the appeal of being a hooligan is beyond me. His part in the film just appears to be a convenient entry point for the American audience. I basically didn't find this film very convincing. What I didn't get most about the film was that when Matt first met Pete, you could tell he was getting into something very bad, heading for the deep end. But this anxiety that the film gives you is then replaced by images of the camaraderie between hooligans, and it is done to such an extent that I begin to wonder whether the director wishes she was a hooligan herself. The final fight scene, has a rather uplifting song played over it with lyrics about being brothers and so on. A load of bollocks if you ask me. Their friendship is born of a common interest in being stains on society. Nonetheless, this is a fairly entertaining movie, the fight scenes are executed well and there is something very fascinating about the hooligans behaviour come match day, but if you're looking for a film which sums up hooliganism for you, this is not the one. It is inconclusive as regards the verdict on hooligans as a whole, yet the GSE are in a way the 'goodies' and the Millwall fans the 'baddies'. A bit too much of a Hollywood portrayal of real hooligans if you ask me. Reviewer Rating of Movie : | |
