Another of a recent crop of British films with a worryingly similar mind-set

Rating: 7/10 (26 September 2005)

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits
Unjustly expelled from Harvard for having a stash of cocaine in his possession, Matt (Elijah Wood) moves up to London to live with his sister and her husband Steve (Marc Warren), whose chirpy, cock-sure younger brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam) he is quickly introduced to. Pete is at first reluctant to become friendly with Matt and allow him to tread around the capital city with him, because he may be viewed as an 'outsider', but after a heavy drinking session with his mates, he soon starts to change his opinion of him. On his way back from a football match, Matt is viciously accosted by a gang of Birmingham City thugs, until Pete and his friends come along and help him out. From here, Matt learns their true identity- they are football hooligans, operating the GSE (Green Street Elite) 'firm.' Initially fearful of the violence, Matt soon finds himself becoming as desensitized to it as his new found friends- but suspicion, shocking revelations and unsettled scores combine to devastating effect when it all climaxes in a free-for-all brawl between London's most heated football rivals-Millwall and Chelsea.
Exceedingly similar ground has been tread already, very recently too, with last year's The Football Factory. So that's two films in very quick succession of each other about football violence. And there's also been a fair few of what the British make best-gangster movies, with The Business and the recently released Revolver. All films aimed at the more criminal way of existence. And all British. It's not the actual films themselves, it's just the amount and consistency of them that I feel may be playing a part in glamorizing all the lawlessness that is present in modern day Britain.
As for the actual film itself, Green Street is, well, very similar to The Football Factory. It brings the world of the football hooligan to life, exploring the motivation behind it and the kinship that develops between those involved. Only it provides characters with more intelligence and humanity, and it could be said that ultimately there's just more depth there. But this, for me at least, was sort of a blessing and a curse. While I was watching it, I just couldn't help thinking of TFF and the more easier flowing, less thickly spread feel to it and just ending up finding this a bit over-whelming and force-fed. The most worrying thing about both these films is just how successfully they succeed in glamorizing the football violence culture and making an aggression in the viewer pop up that may not have been there before. I'm a very gentle person, but I'll admit that both of these films managed to pep me up and make me see an attraction to the idea of soccer violence.
On the performances front, as an American in the lead role, Wood continues to craft a notable career for himself and through-out you're never able not to notice his sweet, innocent, pretty-boy complexion and genuinely feel how out of place he looks amongst all these hooligans. In the main supporting role, Hunnam is certainly very compelling. His character is very well-written, high-lighting how some of the most prolific firm members can actually be rather articulate and hold down very respectable professions outside the firm (he is revealed through-out the film as a PE and History teacher at a primary school!) but his accent is a bit dodgy. His cockney geezer dialect is very shaky through-out. I've just learned he actually comes from Newcastle. There's no way he was really from London, but when his accent fails in bits of the film I thought he actually sounded vaguely American, like his co-star. Warren and the rest of the supporting cast are solid and are an essential driving force to the rest of the film.
Overall, this is certainly a very enjoyable, impressive film that is well worth seeing and, who knows, maybe if I'd seen it before TFF I'd have enjoyed it even more. I know that I should just stop trying to compare it to that film so much, but in light of that film, good though this is, I couldn't help but find it a bit harder to digest and get into the swing of as much. ***