Elijah Wood as the world's most unlikely thug

Rating: 5/10 (12 September 2011)

This passable thriller tackles the subject of football hooliganism in a way that's neither here nor there. It's watchable enough while it's on, but it's one of those films that it's easy to forget about soon after: run-of-the-mill, so to speak, without ever bringing much in the way of insight to its subject matter.
Elijah Wood is cynically cast – to interest the American market – as a failed student who finds himself inducted into the way of football fandom. Before long, he's falling foul of jealous types and rival fans, and the film soon deteriorates into a series of pitched battles between different 'firms'. Those at the highest echelons of football fandom are treated with the kind of glamour you see in gangster films, hanging out in watering holes surrounded by their supporters.
Unfortunately, the reason this film is so forgettable is that it never tells us anything we don't know about the subject. We know the rivalries are deep-rooted. We know that fans meet up for pitched battles. The human story, involving Elijah Wood and his sister Claire Forlani, is dull and goes nowhere; in fact it gets in the way of the hooliganism stuff when it should be getting to grips with it.
The cast is varied, with Charlie Hunnam giving the most interesting performance as the charismatic football thug who takes Wood under his wing. But Marc Warren is totally miscast as an ex-gang leader and female writer/director Lexi Alexander never has the heart to really gets to grips with the subject matter. The resulting movie is slick but vapid: you can't help but feel it's a bit of a waste of time for all involved.