Fairly awful stuff

Rating: 4/10 (25 September 2006)

The glaring inaccuracies and unconvincing dialogue are just too much in this woeful attempt (once again) to capture British football violence. No-one's got it totally right yet, and this is a step backwards if anything. The Firm was laughable at points and looks incredibly dated now, The Football Factory was, in all fairness, a decent stab, and at times convincing, but as for this...
Basically the consensus is that Americans think it's the best thing since sliced bread and the English (who actually know a bit about hooliganism and football in general) see it for the snoozefest that it is. It's over sentimental, too long, the message is confused, the slo-mo violence not totally convincing and the accent for the lead protagonist a total joke, not to mention the unrealistic premise of a Harvard A-student screwing his life up with a bunch of drunken, clueless hammers fans.
Must admit, I've always had a soft spot for the irons, so in that sense these idiots have a slight moral advantage over the football factory's chelsea boys, but it doesn't effect the outcome of the film one jot. Avoid.