A Self Limiting Genre

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2010)

Films featuring football hooligans have been done to death . They usually follow a basic formula of an outsider becoming involved in a firm because it gives them a sense of identity . They're essentially straight forward violent dramas with pretensions of existentialist themes , comparable with Hollywood gangster movies . They are at the end of the day rather self limiting so what makes GREEN STREET different ? Nothing much story wise though it's obvious - perhaps too much so - that this movie is trying to get itself noticed in America . It stars Elijah Wood straight from his success as Frodo from LORD OF THE RINGS and has American settings bookending the start of finale of the film
It does seem strange trying to make a football hooligan film that'll sell in America and it's no surprise that the movie didn't get a wide release in the States " Lanhdan " accents would be impossible to understand to an Amerian audience along with Brit slang . The cause isn't helped much because the version I saw didn't have the greatest sound mix . The story is also held up as the characters have to explain to Wood's character , Matt Buckner , who the rival firms are
Where the film does succeed is to give some characters depth . For much of the film I thought I was watching Marc Warren in yet another wasted role but then it's revealed he's the mythical major which is a surprise that carries dramatic impact . Unfortunately this doesn't extend much to anyone else . It's difficult to believe Matt would put his hands up to something he didn't do and even harder to believe he'd turn down $10,000 . There's the very predictable climax of a fight shot in slow motion and cross cut editing that leads to the message violence begets violence and GREEN STREET doesn't bring anything new to the sub genre