A High Tension Tale Examining the Extent of Human Violence

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2007)

GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS is much easier on the psyche to watch in the home DVD version than in the theater release. It is a story so packed with violence that the underlying subplots get lost until the film is reduced to the size of a television screen. Lexi Alexander wrote (with Dougie Brimson and Joshua Shelov) and directed this tense story about the strange cults ('firms') of grown men who align with the various soccer/football teams in London, accompanying the games with intense fighting in the manner of 'hooliganism'. The story is well told by introducing a Yank into this atmosphere, allowing the viewer to see the origins and machinations of hooliganism from a fairly unbiased stance.
Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) has just been expelled form Harvard in his last semester, taking the blame for his coke-snorting hotshot roommate whose family is too important for such blunderings. Somewhat without direction and not having his degree in journalism completed (Matt's father - Henry Goodman - is a high ranking international journalist whose time is spent in foreign ports since the death of Matt's mother) Matt flies to London to live with his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani) and her husband Steve (Marc Warren) and their young son. Steve's rowdy brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam) interrupts Matt's arrival with a demand for money from his older brother and reluctantly accepts the company of the new Yank Matt in order to gain cash from Steve. What ensues is Matt's introduction to the GSE (Green Street Elite), a firm of men who defend the honor and success of their chosen soccer team: there are many such firms of street violence gangs who vie for ranking within the city. Matt is plunged into this violent situation and learns form Pete the importance of gang stance: always protect your brothers and never flee a fight. The story grows increasingly complex and intense as we learn the backgrounds for hate and intolerance, one of these hates is for journalists and when it is discovered that Matt was a journalism major at Harvard the news nearly causes Matt's life. But Matt slowly identifies with the firm and grows into a sense of individuality that he has never had, giving him the ability to face the realities of his father's absence and to understand the precarious marriage of his sister whose husband is a 'reformed' hooligan. In the end there is a 'justification' for the violence witnessed, but the audience must be willing to view that justification from an altered stance.
The film is paced well and the cast is excellent, with special kudos to Elijah Wood, Claire Forlani, Marc Warren, Charley Hunnan, and to the fine supporting cast members including Leo Gregory as the unfortunate snitch, Terence Jay as the coke-addicted Harvard roommate, and a large cast of 'firm members' whose fighting techniques are well choreographed and captured by cinematographer Alexander Buono. Like THE FIGHT CLUB this film is not for all audiences, but the messages underneath all of the violence are well worth thought. Grady Harp