Hooligans

Plot synopsis:
Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood), a journalism major, is expelled from Harvard University after cocaine is discovered in his room. However, the cocaine belongs to Jeremy Van Holden (Terence Jay), his roommate. Buckner is afraid to speak up because the Van Holdens are a powerful family, and Jeremy offers him $10,000 for taking the fall. Matt doesn't initially accept the money, but reconsiders and uses the money to visit his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani), her husband Steve Dunham (Marc Warren) and their young son, Ben (James Allison) living in London. There, Matt meets Steve's brother, Pete (Charlie Hunnam), an acerbic and imposing Cockney who leads the local football hooligan firm – Green Street Elite (GSE): a group of football supporters that arranges fights after matches – and teaches at a local school. Steve asks Pete to take Matt to a football match between West Ham United and Birmingham City, though Pete is reluctant to take a "Yank" to a football match, because of the xenophobic attitude of his friends. He is persuaded because Steve will only give the money Pete needs to Matt. When Pete changes his mind and demands the money from Matt a minor scuffle between the two ensues, where Pete quickly gets the upper hand and subsequently decides to take Matt to the football match, thinking he might learn something.
Matt meets Pete's friends and his firm in the Abbey, their local pub. The hooligans all befriend Matt, with the exception of Pete's stubborn right-hand man, Bovver (Leo Gregory). After a few pints of lager, they head to Upton Park for the match. After the match, Pete, Bovver, and the other firm members agree to go and fight some Birmingham fans, but Matt decides that it is not for him and tells Pete he is going to take the train home. On his way back to the underground, Matt is jumped by three Birmingham fans, who nearly give him a Chelsea grin (Glasgow Smile), but he is rescued by some GSE members, who are on their way to a larger fight. Though grossly outnumbered, the GSE manage to stand their ground until reinforcements chase off the Birmingham firm. Matt does well in his first true fight and is inducted into the GSE. After a row with Steve, Matt moves in with Pete, and the two exchange stories.
The GSE firm then head to an away game against Manchester United. Matt was not meant to come but ends up sneaking onto the train. Whilst on the train they are warned that 40 Manchester United firm members are waiting for them at the station singing "Where's your famous GSE!". Bovver hits the emergency stop button which allows the GSE to get off at an earlier stop (Macclesfield). Having failed to find a taxi, they persuade a van driver to take them into Manchester. Matt sits in the front of the van with the driver; the rest of the GSE are in the rear. As the van approaches the Manchester United fans, Matt tells them that they are moving equipment for a Hugh Grant film, so the fans let them through. When past them, he stops the van, opens up the back, and the GSE charge out to attack the United firm members. They win the fight and run away singing "There's your famous GSE!"
It is revealed earlier in the movie to Matt that the GSE's sworn enemy is Millwall's firm, led by Tommy Hatcher (Geoff Bell), with whom Bovver makes negotiations after getting jealous of Matt. After one of the members of the GSE see Matt meeting his father, a renowned journalist for The Times, for lunch, they assume Matt is a "journo" as well. Bovver informs Pete of this, and, when Steve finds out, he goes to the Abbey to warn Matt. Matt finds out that Steve used to be "The Major" of the GSE but quit following a match against Millwall, to which Tommy Hatcher brought along his 12-year-old son. The boy was killed in the ensuing fight by members of the GSE, causing Tommy Hatcher to "lose the plot", blaming Steve and the GSE for his son's death. After witnessing this tragedy, Steve left football hooliganism for good.
At that moment, Bovver and Pete arrive, get into a brawl within the Abbey, in which Bovver comes out defeated. Agitated, Bovver goes to Millwall's local and asks Tommy Hatcher to ambush GSE at the Abbey. Initially reluctant to get involved with an internal struggle within the GSE, Tommy Hatcher agrees upon learning that Steve Dunham is there. Pete angrily confronts Matt in the bathroom over the covering-up of his real identity. The Millwall firm then crash the Abbey, and petrol bomb the bar. Upon arriving, Tommy Hatcher attacks Steve. Steve's attempt to convince Tommy Hatcher that he is no longer involved in the GSE only further reminds Hatcher of his son, and he stabs Steve in the neck with a broken bottle, telling him that if he dies tonight then they are both even. Bovver, who had been knocked unconscious by one of Tommy Hatcher's men upon arriving at the Abbey, awakes just in time to help Steve, who is dying. At the hospital, Pete criticizes Bovver for his betrayal. Shannon decides to return to the United States to ensure the safety of her family.
In the aftermath, the two firms meet near the Millennium Dome for a violent and blood-curdling brawl. Matt and Bovver show up to fight for the GSE, but during the fight, Matt's sister, Shannon, turns up with her infant son to look for Matt and are proceeded to be attacked by Hatcher's right-hand man. Matt and Bovver come to their rescue. Pete notices that Tommy Hatcher is approaching the car, and distracts Tommy by goading him to "finish him off". When Tommy Hatcher declares to have finished with him, Pete then retorts that Tommy Hatcher was to blame for his son's death, having failed to protect him, shouting "he was your son!". Tommy Hatcher, driven to insanity, tackles Pete to the ground, eventually beating him to death, all the while shouting out a variation of the words to the chant 'Only a poor little Hammer', using it as an analogy for Pete's condition. As both sides draw a line at manslaughter, the fight completely halts at this point, and a distraught Tommy is pulled off Pete by members of his firm. Everyone on both sides gathers around Pete's dead body in shock, with Bovver sobbing at his side.
Matt returns to the United States and confronts Jeremy Van Holden in a restaurant toilet, where Jeremy is snorting cocaine. Jeremy arrogantly tells Matt to leave during a brief discussion in which he admits to his identity as the cocaine stash's true owner. Matt then pulls out a tape recorder and plays back what Jeremy just said, saying that it is his "ticket back to Harvard". Jeremy lunges at him to try to get the tape, but Matt casually reverses the attack and raises his fist as if to punch Jeremy. He does not do so, instead walking out with a smile as Jeremy collapses to the floor, anxious. The film ends with Matt walking down the street outside the restaurant singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".

Tags: revenge, psychedelic, violence

Review:
Both ID in 1995 and last years FOOTBALL FACTORY either failed to convince or just went down the familiar exploitative road of glamorising the buzz and thrill of violence.HOOLIGANS as the title suggests depicts what these aforementioned films centre upon with the added value of having a story and characters you care about.
The prospect of West Ham's cup tie with Millwall brings joy to the faces of both sets of fans.Casting Elijah Wood is a bold move, he looks like a Choirboy but this adds to the films main storyline of innocence corrupted.
The acting is better than average, despite letting his cockney accent slip on occasions, Gang leader Charlie Hunnam shows a genuine mix of anger, aggression and compassion which holds the film together.This won't win awards but it's refreshing to see a film finally tackling the subject matter that unfortunately has been a shameful factor of Britain's attitude towards football as we are constantly under threat of being disqualified from International tournaments due to the bad behaviour of soccer hooligans..
He flies to London to visit his sister and quickly gets caught up in a small group of West Ham United supporting hooligans called the Green Street Elite.The film does slightly glamorise the violence, but ends on a moralising note.
An engaging storyline, good cinematography and decent cast performances make this a very enjoyable film.Two minor demerits: 1) Charlie Hunnam's "cor blimey guv'nor" accent owes more to Dick van Dyke than London's East End.2) To establish that Wood's character has landed in London, we hear this frankly ridiculous message over the airport's PA system - "this is a security announcement at London Heathrow airport".
This film is simply brilliant and finally provides us with an accurate portrayal of life amongst the hooligans in a way The Football Factory or ID never did.Central to this are the amazing fight scenes and the performances of the primary actors with Hunnam in particular doing an outstanding job.
Pete refuses since he is the leader of the GSE (Green Street Elite), a gang of hooligan fans of the West Ham United that usually fight after the matches.
Rather a ridiculous film, this; Elijah Wood as a Harvard-dropout-turned-East-End-Football hooligan...?
At no point during the film was I convinced that a) he could handle himself in a fight against such thugs and b) the 'firm' of thugs would accept such a person into their fold.The other main character is played by Charlie Hunnam.
Hubby grabs the opportunity to palm off his unexpected guest on brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam), a cocky jack-the-lad who, as we've already discovered from the opening sequence, is also an extremely mouthy football yob.Although Steve's discomfort over Pete's potty-mouthed demeanour in front of both wife and house-guest is evident, such is the attraction of 'Chicago' (a gangland tale, chosen for reasons which soon become gratingly obvious) that he's quite happy to entrust the naive Matt to the care of his errant bro': an even rougher diamond than he whom he knows is certain to lead the young American astray.Matt, despite his preppy disposition and the small voice of calm that would surely be bidding him "run" from a situation that looks iffy from the start, is strangely happy to spend quality time with this boorish and potentially dangerous character, his jetlag apparently having rendered him a sponge for every splenetic old anti-American cliché in the book (yes, even the ones about "friendly fire" and "being late for both wars").
Soon the pair is all but arm-in-arm and joshing happily together in the pub, the initially suspicious crew of local hardboys (for Pete is the Main Man) quickly coming around to the thought that the Yank's a good'un after all, understands the concept of loyalty and will support his new mates no matter what sort of how's-yer-father's going down.Apart from generally getting things very wrong about London, the film's foundation conceit, the premise upon which Matt becomes involved with West Ham's Green Street Elite in the first place, is fatally flawed from the beginning and heads rapidly south from there.
We are drawn towards the GSE's loathsome characters only because the real 'bad guys' of the piece - wouldn't you know it, it's the MILLWALL firm - are so operatically unhinged that anyone else can only look like a choirboy, no matter how handy he might be with the coarser rhythms of East End slang, a taunting terrace chant and a set of brass knuckles.
Marc Warren goes through his barrow-boy chops and does what we've come to expect of him, whilst Wood is tolerable in a wretched role; the single observation that enthusiasts for this film have made with which I agree - that Matt needed from the start to have an air of the innocent abroad about him, only latterly discovering a steelier determination when forced to face life full-on - is fair enough, and few ought to be able to do this better than good old Frodo Baggins himself.But this isn't nearly enough on which to hang the story.
And his father's Fleet Street connections could easily land him a plum job in journalism; Matt's major at Harvard and the calling whose discovery by the respective Upton Park and Coldharbour Lane crews eventually leads to the film's ultimate big set-piece: a ludicrous final gang skirmish on a bleak post-industrial lot, complete with the inevitable slo'mo evocation of our virtuous warrior-princes doing honourable battle for a higher calling, like something out of 'Excalibur' with pylons.Shannon pitches up to spoil the fun and Matt returns to Boston, an older, wiser man.
Basically, a very poor film which people will like if they have little knowledge of real football, and hooliganism.
Only a writer/director growing up in Germany then transplanting to the USA could have cast Newcastle born Charlie Hunnam as an East End football hooligan.With a cockney accent as convincing as Dick Van Dyke's in Mary Poppins, Hunnan's portrayal was laughable.The premise of the film is ludicrous - sheltered and protected Harvard man easily transplants and integrates into a violent gang, where he makes a national reputation for himself as a thug.One of the gang appears to be employed as an airline pilot.
I found watching this film to be rather insulting, as a genuine football fan.Sure, were I an American with no knowledge of football in England, I would find the film riveting, but at the end of the day, the world in which it is set is just not realistic enough.This film finally proved a suspician of mine for a while - Elijah Wood cannot act.The leader of the GSE sounds like an American trying to speak cockney.
It's like Fight Club in the West End of London (without the schizophrenia.) The plot alternates between pulsing sound and bare-knuckle street fighting and real, tangible character development.Elijah Wood delivers a great performance unlike the boyish roles he's had thus far.
The kind of film you'd cross the street to avoid, this absolutely dreadful waste of time is filled to the brim with all the standard clichés of the football hooligan film.As an added bonus, this one has a cast of fake Cockneys putting on terrible accents.
The little conversations between Hunnam and Elijah Wood where he's educating him on British football hooligan firms are some of the most pathetic scenes I've ever seen in any movie.
Green Street tells the tale of an absolute outsider making his way into a football firm and gradually infiltrating the group as the ever volatile life of fighting and maiming takes a hold on them, seducing them into a stupor of all things crude and nasty.
In short, I find The Football Factory to be one of the most frightening; most affecting and one of the more interesting British films of the last ten or so years whereas Green Street is a passable tale of a young man caught up in a reprehensible lifestyle and how this affects him for his longer run at life.Green Street is more the processed film, in the sense it requires time to set up a lead and his 'current' lifestyle; introduce the characters they'll be spending the majority of their time with; have them enter this 'new' lifestyle; gradually build them up within that bubble before having it all implode and have everything linked to the demonisation of hooliganism play out – it is the quintessential Amercican fable of rising through the ranks.
Indeed, the intended audience is so far infused with Elijah Wood's lead here that football firms and hooliganism in general needs to be explained to him, in black and white, by someone more experienced with the lifestyle.Green Street's Americanised sensibility is captured in its narrative structure; its more thorough attention to character arc and its somewhat flashy, glitzy aesthetic that it carries throughout, acting rather uncomplimentary with its disgusting subject matter.
One is reminded of Alan Clarke's low-budgeted; grimy; scuzzy-looking 1988 effort The Firm which was, granted, made for television but gave the world in which it was set a downtrodden and frightening feel to it through its colour saturation and persistence on having the scenes play out in enclosed terrace streets complete with rock solid brick walls acting as the backdrop plus worn-out public houses in which large groups of men would be shot in close-up format instilling confrontation and claustrophobia.It's said that German born female director Lexi Alexander is to have based the film on a number of real life instances with people of a similar ilk, but most of her characters are given some pretty unreal 'triggers' or prior tragedies to further both character and conflict; some of the characters having undergone specific transitions that render them specific archetypes that exist to aid the progression of the story.
The use of these specific lifestyles and prior tragedies to emote both threat and the sense that something's at stake forces the film to feel a little fabricated, thus, pushing the film away a downtrodden sense that something like The Firm certainly had and The Football Factory effectively carried.Indeed, it is Elijah Wood that plays American Matt Buckner, a guy who was expelled from Harvard university in America when his room-mate was busted for cocaine and he took the fall for it.
Alexander captures the bond these men have, these big; well muscled men clutching a hold of each other as they sing and talk dirty in pubs, indeed Matt and Pete's relationship is taken to a point that sees a rival, Pete's former best friend, enter a public house as they share a drink and storm out again in a jealous rage when Matt and Pete's bonding is captured by way of his gaze.I don't think the film enjoys the violence, nor does it invite us to enjoy it; more-so, it is the lead character that enjoys the rush of the violence while the scenes play out around him and this acceptance into a sub-culture occurs.
It's a whole system that is far more aggressive (and 'pissed' aka drunk) than a typical group of sports fans like one would find in the States, but it's not quite as ruthless as a gang like crips and bloods either.The Hooligans of the GSE fight and act like a gang for status, not for profit, and this is the way of things when Matt (Elijah Wood), a Harvard dropout, lands in England and somehow befriends his brother in law's brother Pete (Charles Hunnam).
He's taken along to the pub, then to a football/soccer match, and then proves his worth the best way he can: he gets in his first real fight-cum-brawl in the streets with some other soccer hooligans.
From then in the film becomes a story of friendship and eventual betrayal from a scorned member of the GSE, who doesn't like Mike from the start and feels taken aback by his best friend Pete's connection to a practical family member.It's also about the way that the male brain works in such situations: Matt is a very smart guy, being from Harvard and all (and sort of hiding a secret as a journalist major - a big no-no in hooligan gangs, being a "Journie" as its called), but he can go into this violent state of being because it's part of a clique, and part of being part of a group where everyone looks out for everyone else - which he doesn't get from his sister (Forlani) or his absentee father.
Then again, I've never been in a fight in my life and don't know what I'm talking about right?The movie is good and yes, you should watch it to broaden your horizons of the extent of stupidity Man can comprehend because the real situation of what is going on on the streets of UK's cities is even worse.
Apart from the fact that it is slightly low budget the film is brilliant.At first it seemed that violence was the only thing that happened in the football hooligans life.
Pete's the head honcho of the Green Street Elite (GSE), the Firm of West Ham United, and I'd like the beginning of their budding relationship where Pete educates Matt on aspects of football (not soccer, mind you).
I'm sorry but this film was terrible, quite honestly i don't know how anyone is supposed to believe that a Harvard drop out manages to get himself caught up in football hooliganism on his first day in London.
i know that it does happen and is fairly common, but do yourselves a favour and watch the firm (with gary oldman not tom cruise) or the football factory and see what is actually a good film about the subject matter, not this americanised drivel.
After a number of "UK Football Hooligan" movies - I.D, Football Factory to mention two and being a football fan and seeing scenes of violence between rival fans, I was hopeful that Green Street would be equally if not better at depicting the insular culture of a small group of society.I think the first major flaw is the casting, no offence to Ejija but if he were to enter this culture he would be hospitalised before he could open his mouth.
Although most firms do have younger members, these are normally the watch outs for the old bill, they would not be allowed to take part in the actually "meets" until at least 16 or 17.The scenes of violence although quite well edited are on the whole unbelievable, there is no way the old bill would allow the fans to wait outside the train station as they did.Football Factory is a much better depiction of the way the firms are run and what happens when opposition firms meet, this is almost a school boy version, and really not worth your time..
This film was excellent, I really liked the way Elijah wood played his role character.
I struggled to see any areas or streets or pubs I am familiar with.If you want an entertaining film which gives some insight as to what supporters are really like in London go for Football Factory starring the excellent Danny Dyer.
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.
Elijah Wood was OK, he is obviously trying to shake off the Frodo typecasting and he did it beautifully in Sin City, but this was wrong for him and he wasn't strong enough in this to make it a good film.I found this film simply unbelievable This American chap shows up in the east-end, his sisters fella tells him to go to a football game with his brother, the leader of one of the most notorious football firms in London.
That said the opposition firm led by Terry Hatcher are spot on they've got the accents right and aren't a bunch of school kids.The film did have some good scenes and effects, although the violence tended to be that of people spitting fake blood out of their mouths at any chance.The plot was like something out the Karate Kid, simple and well trodden.
The final climax used some god awful Irish folk song which made the whole saga laughable.Then there's Elijah - what a hard man - lol - the end scene was hilarious.This whole film competes very well with the likes of David Brent for cringe worthiness but instead of being good in Davids place is absolutely terrible in Green Streets place..
He likes it.The clear problem is that you could never envisage in a million years the real West Ham firm ever accepting someone like Wood's American tourist character into their fold.Even worse is Charlie Hunnam's cockney accent.
I simply cannot suspend my disbelief enough to accept that the Elijah Wood character would react the way he did to his experiences with Pete.It's a shame as the cast are pretty good - apart from Charlie Hunnam's accent, which seems well off, and his swagger is comical rather than intimidating.Imagine football Hooliganism through a pornographic soft focus and you have this movie.
The ominous, bleak texture of the city is wonderfully portrayed, and the film makes no attempt to try and gloss over the facts when it comes to street violence and how unapologetic it can become.Director Lexi Alexander, a world champion in both kickboxing and karate, has stated in interviews that her older brother was a member of a football firm and that she got a lot of inspiration from the encounters she had with the gang while with him.
With time on his hands, Matt decides to visit his sister Shannon (Forlani) in England and falls in with her brother-in-law Peter (Hunnam); the leader of notorious football hooligan firm The Green Street Elite.