Tremendous fun but far from convincing

Rating: 6/10 (17 January 2006)

If this makes 'Football Factory' look inferior I really want to check that out! Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed nearly every moment of this film, however the concessions obviously made to an American audience really rob this film of its authenticity. As a crossover film for viewers in the US this will be as authentic as it is gonna get, yet it does lack the impact of something like 'ID' which was made 20 years previously.
Putting Elijah Wood as the lead makes good commercial sense at first glance, the theater audiences would need to recognise someone they are watching. He spends the whole film with his eyes wide open like a bunny rabbit in front of some car headlights! The cartoon inhabitants of Watership Down would be more convincing as casuals than he - the guy portrays no sense of menace whatsoever! It looks like the director pillaged the ranks of young 20/30 something character actors in the UK, they are all very photogenic and good looking with the slightest hint of menace about them. In short, more like the cast of 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' than any real convincing football thugs I have seen. The contrast that I enjoyed the most was the look of the top boys in the West Ham and Millwall firms. The Dunham boys are young GQ types whilst their nemeses are chubby old guys straight of the Square in Eastenders, what kind of message is being given there? The biggest howler is Charlie Hunham's cockney accent - it is just terrible. It comes out sounding like Dick van Dyke at times. At least he had an excuse in Mary Poppins... the old guy's from Missouri! Despite these shortcomings (and some plot holes so cavernous you could send a column of riot police through)this film is extremely entertaining. The rights of passage theme is played sympathetically and you develop an affinity with our hero and his buddies by the end. They do achieve a sense of redemption by the end of the film. Its brutal, bloody redemption but closes the film well...