Hooligans (2005) Reviews

• A powerful film about loss and being alone resolved into belonging through a Football Firm (gang).

  sbarcik2005-03-16

  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.

• SXSW'05 Best Narrative Feature (Jury and Audience)

  mysticwit2005-03-28

  As one of the privileged few who saw the world premiere at SXSW (even badge holders were turned away), Hooligans is sure to be one of the most talked about films of the year. Lexi Alexander, who, according to her Q&A answers at the premiere, grew up amongst the type of men depicted in Hooligans. The choice to use an American as a central character was deliberate, to quickly get into the story and see the lifestyle from an outsider's perspective. As a wrongfully expelled Harvard student, Matt (Elijah Wood) decides to stay with his sister in England, and is reluctantly befriended by his brother in law's brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam). Wood deftly plays the passive introvert ripe for the seduction of group-bonding violence Hunnam's charismatically surly Pete, who introduces him to football (aka soccer) and the 'firms' who are known for their violence against rival teams' fans. Without glorifying the violence, fully realized and likable characters explore how easily someone can be drawn into hooliganism. Instead of using broad strokes, Alexander demonstrates through Matt how even the most unlikely people get caught up in mob mentality and violence, through the bonds of friendship and belonging. With an edgy soundtrack and strong performances, Hooligans leaves a lasting impression.

• HOOLIGANS is the best of this genre so far

  pitz422005-03-10

  First of all there hasn't been a good film about English Football Hooliganism. 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. There's no avoiding the cliché's as the ranks of these organised gang members are portrayed as gangsters. Similar to BBC's Gary Oldman drama THE FIRM broadcast in 1986 it also show the characters as normal members of society, family men with respectable jobs. FOOTBALL FACTORY took the extreme and unconvincing scenario that these weekend animals are florist's during the week which might be amusing but the subject matter of organised territorial football hooliganism needs to be given a serious look at. Fortunately HOOLIGANS portrays this more realistically, sure there's the stereo types in designer clothes (The Chavs) as we call them now where loyalty, respect, revenge, dignity and pride are what they live for, not the enjoyment of the actual sport. This simply acts as the excuse to fight in a traditional gang warfare environment. 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.

• Excellent film about football hooligans

  simon702005-08-25

  I saw this at a mystery preview screening where I didn't know what film was going to be shown. Sometimes these previews turn out to be real turkeys but thankfully that wasn't the case this time. Without revealing too much of the story, Elijah Wood's character gets kicked out of Harvard for a drug offence he didn't commit. 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". Presumably this was inserted for the hard of thinking. To all the Americans who have commented that they'd avoid British football matches as a result of this film, I point out that this film is fiction - not a documentary. Hooligans are an absolutely tiny minority of the crowd at a football match and even then they invariably only fight among themselves rather than randomly attacking innocent members of the public (something the film accurately portrayed). All in all, an excellent film, worth going to see.

• What a Great Movie!!!

  campbejt2006-06-21

  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.