A film about football hooliganism with real depth and emotion

Rating: 8/10 (11 June 2013)

A friend of mine told me about Green Street a while ago when I told him that I'd watched Football Factory. He advised me to watch Green Street as it is a far superior film (and that I do agree with). Green Street is a much better film as it has much more depth and takes its subject matter much more seriously.
In Green Street, Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) is a Harvard undergrad who ends up being expelled from university when his roommate's drugs are planted on him. As a result, Matt moves to London to stay with his sister Shannon Dunham (Claire Forlani) and her husband Steve (Marc Warren). Shannon questions him about the drugs when he gets to England to which Matt denies that they were his drugs, but she is dismayed when she discovers that he didn't tell anyone at Harvard that they weren't his drugs and that he didn't stand his ground and defend himself. This is partly because Matt is a bit weak willed and also because of 'who his roommate knows' at Harvard.
Once in England, Matt is quickly taken under the wing of Pete Dunham (with exceptional acting by Charlie Hunnam) who introduces him to his firm known as the GSE (Green Street Elite). We see initially that Matt is not popular amongst the firm, they immediately take a disliking to him as he is a Yank and an 'Outsider'. As the film progresses, the gang gain respect for Matt for having 'bottle' and not 'backing down' which are all essential traits within the GSE.
One of the film's strengths is in the characters and character development. Pete is the leader of the GSE and although he is a violent towards other football fans, he does have some likable qualities such as one scene where he stands up on a train to let a lady sit down, the way he looks out for Matt. He shows that he is human and it makes him sort of likable. The GSE's main rivals are the Millwall firm led by Tommy Hatcher (played by Geoff Bell). His character is a despicable individual with no likable qualities and he only knows how to get his message across by using violence (as seen in one shocking restaurant scene).
The film takes a turn when one of the members of the GSE thinks that Matt is an undercover reporter (he spots Matt standing in the entrance of 'The Times' building. The GSE's suspicions are further worsened when they discover a Journal on Matt's laptop describing the time he spent with the group and what he thought of each of them. This leads to a show down in the pub where Matt tries to convince Pete that he isn't an undercover reporter and this causes divided loyalty between Pete and fellow GSE member Bovver (Leo Gregory) as Pete chooses to believe Matt and Bovver doesn't believe him (makes sense as he made no secret of not liking Matt all through the film). Bovver tips off Tommy and his crew that the Major (former leader of the GSE) is in the GSE's hang out (which turns out to be Pete's brother Steve). Tommy ends up stabbing Steve in the neck as revenge for his boy getting killed during a fight when the 2 firms met about 10 years ago - it was for this reason that Steve turned his back on hooliganism, and although Steve didn't actually kill Tommy's boy, Tommy holds Steve responsible as he was the major at the time. As a result of the Millwall firm putting Steve (the major) in hospital, the GSE go after Tommy and his crew to seek revenge.
What's also great about the film is the ending. The film goes full circle and Matt ends up back in America and gets his revenge on his roommate (before he sees his roommate he says in his narrative that 'he has learnt a lot from Pete) and I believe that the lesson here is to always stand up for yourself which is what Matt does in the end. Matt doesn't use any violence against his roommate and merely restrains him when he tries to take his Dictaphone meaning that he has learnt to be more assertive than aggressive.
Although this film has a lot of violence, it certainly doesn't glorify it and it doesn't glorify football hooliganism (this message is thumped home several times throughout the film). This is a genuinely fine, emotional ride with terrific acting (particularly from Charlie Hunnam as previously mentioned).
Whilst I did enjoy Green Street, there were a couple of issues. Firstly, the camera work during some of the fights was quite nauseating which caused me to have to look away from the TV on a couple of occasions. Also I found Matt's transition from mild mannered Harvard student to street thug came a little too effortlessly, but these are only minor flaws in an otherwise excellent film.