Green Street Hooligans

Hopefully this film will not be limited in its reception as a "sport" film, and more disparagingly in America as a "soccer" film. It is much more than either distinction, for it portrays the transformational awakening of a young man as he becomes proactive rather than reactive about life.

This transition occurs within the often misunderstood culture of "football hooligans", hordes of zealous football fans who display a jingoistic allegiance to their teams and the locale from which they hail. The insight provided into this world reveals more than gang triviality for these men do not compete for the sake of criminal enterprise or the carnal spoils of women. Their skirmishes, often times brutal, are for stake in a sense of pride that reminds us that athletes put glory in our sport, but for some fans, glory is the sport. That pride, as it is conveyed, does well to offset the characterization of drunken recklessness that could easily be assessed to "hooliganism".

I highly recommend this film --- it's not "soccer". It's awakening to self.

I thought the idea of the movie about an american experiencing football hooliganism was very interesting and it turned out to be a decent movie. The plot was very intriguing throughout and the movie was enjoyable to watch. I thought the action scenes were good and seemed realistic for the most part. The characters were portrayed well and most of the both accents seemed fine, except for Matt's dad whose american accent seemed a bit off.

As an English ex-pat and a football fan, I went along to the Alamo Draft House hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I got the best. 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. And if anyone believed that all Elijah Wood movies would forever be tainted with the image of Frodo Baggins, think again. Within about 10 seconds of screen time, any lingering thoughts of LOTR are gone.

Yet whilst the direction, actors and the stunts will attract all the plaudits, for me, the main reason why this film works so well is the very clever story and the amazing script. Yes, in many respects the subject has been 'Americanised' but it has been done in a way which is very subtle. I suspect that much of the credit for this goes to the writer Dougie Brimson because it is obvious very early on that there was a strong English influence on both the plot and the dialogue.

Given the level of violence, not to mention the subject matter, I'm not that sure mainstream America will respond that well to it but for me, the big test will come when it's shown in England but I suspect like me, the English audiences are going to love it.

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely loved this movie. I've been waiting for it to come out in DVD in the United States for a very long time and I was amazed that the movie lived up to my high expectations.

Reading through the comments others have made about this movie, I was shocked that so many people hated it. It seems that many people, mostly Brits, hated the movie because they didn't think it was realistic enough, there were too many clichés, and because Charlie Hunnam's impression of a cockney accent wasn't very good.

I don't get it. First off, this is a fictional movie, not a documentary. I thought the plot of this movie was very compelling. Yes, you do have to suspend your disbelief a bit, but you have to do that for almost every movie made. Some folks simply could not accept Elijah Wood as a tough guy. I agree that it's difficult to picture Frodo as a tough guy, but I thought he did a very good job. I also thought Charlie Hunnam was OUTSTANDING. He has an incredible screen presence and I look forward to seeing him in future movies. Mark Warren was also great. In fact, the entire supporting cast was great in this film. Claire Forlani was great, Leo Gregory was fantastic, all of the guys that played Pete's friends were great (even the guy that played Tommy Hatcher was perfect). GREAT performances all around!!!

This is a great film. I've already ordered a copy for my DVD collection. I've seen it three times and I will watch it again when my copy arrives. It's that good! I give it an 8 out of 10.

5 Stars; A truly great film, with a powerful story. Beautifully photographed, in London, Wow! The audience was quickly involved, and laughed, started, and gave a standing ovation at the end. Truly a complete film, thank you for having a real ending to the film, which is so rare these days. Never apologize for this film, it is loving, stark, caring, hard, honest, violent, and beautiful. It touches the emotions, and the feeling of not belonging that exists within many of us, and that longing for love and brotherhood, that is not available without some dire costs. The characters were so clearly human, powerful and conflicted one was drawn to care for everything that happened to them and cheer at their triumphs and sit in horror at their losses.

I have recommended that everyone see this film during SXSW. My wife and I were expecting an audience award for the film, which it easily won, however the Jury Award was also won and we were give true appreciation for the jury system at SXSW.

Beautiful photographed, with outstanding music, this production hits all the marks out of the ballpark and should be studied for how powerful film today could be. This is the level of film making I aspire to achieve.