OK, so this is ostensibly a film about British hooligans in prison, there is a football match at the end of the film that establishes whether one team or another can go home, this is the premise in a nutshell, and it's all well and good...
...Except that there is something far more subversive, dangerous and potentially unpleasant for the masses, about this little movie!
It is a polished and attractively well executed action film, the locations look slick and not British at all, the cast are handsome and chiseled, and cheerfully smart, if not intelligent, then they are amusingly engaging, not the usual traits of the British hooligan in fiction or even non-fiction (unless you read the "skin head" books of the 1970's.) Their undying loyalty, like a badge of honor, to their various hooligan "firms" is worn proudly and cheerfully, it is a given, as a matter of fact and without any kind of moral warning whatsoever. These lads do what they do because they like it!
There have been a number of films made on the topic of soccer hooligans; ID, The Firm, Football factory, Green Street Hooligans; all have dealt with the various ways the hooligan protagonists coped with the pressure of having to be a part of what is basically a violent criminal organization. As in films about characters in criminal groups, we are usually shown how they want to get out, how they want to go straight, why they are maturing to the point of wanting to find something else in life, why they are better than the criminals they have grown up with...
In Greenstreet 2: Stand your Ground, the characters are hooligans and proud of it, they live for the fight and enjoy reminiscing, they enjoy scrapping and the drinking that follows, or starts it. They enjoy talking about the history of the sport, as they interpret it; at the end of this movie, they are most probably off to another game to cause more trouble, without a shred of guilt, or philosophical remorse.
This is startling and troubling and actually for the first time ever, quite honest.
Far from finding this film unpleasant, I was actually relieved and surprised that it didn't try to convince me to feel sorry for an adult male basically doing what he wanted to, in a free country - it's not free to fight in the street, but you get my drift.
Instead of wading through a bunch of liberal hand wringing; I was encouraged to root for them in their fights, even in their football game, and found myself on the edge of my seat, 100% true, when the hero, Dave, played by Ross McCall has to face off with the menacingly efficient Graham McTavish (John Rambo), finally knocking his tooth out in what has to be one of the bloodiest fist fights in any film, even for a prison film this is bloody good fun!
The standout performer in this grindhouse style pic may well be Luke Massy as Keith, when in his solitary cell his character recites his teams history, it's a haunting and strangely moving scene, one that doesn't, and shouldn't belong in this film, but somehow it does, and should. It is one of many scenes that transcended the material in this gritty, B-movie and really made me sit up and take notice, believe me I wanted to hate this movie.
Massy was a boxer once I believe, and his portrayal of this tainted pugilist is outstanding, it is also the one moment in the film that touches on the history of the ICF, of West Ham, and even back to the Viking hooligans kicking severed heads around, some of the details are known to only a few, but the effect is powerful. No other hooligan movie has got this, yet.
This film is unlikely to please many critics, usually too wrapped up in their own importance to realize that this is diametrically different to anything that has come before. They will be outraged by the positive light thrown onto membership in a football firm, they will be in fits of consternation over the handsome looking leads; "what does this say to our youth, are you condoning membership in a firm, are you saying it's OK to be a hooligan?" I hear them saying, if they say anything at all - well it may be, and it may not be, regardless, like the best films it's doesn't judge, and for once I watched a film about a subject matter with which I am intimate, and it pleased me, rightly.
I highly recommend it, but, it's not for your grannie!
...Except that there is something far more subversive, dangerous and potentially unpleasant for the masses, about this little movie!
It is a polished and attractively well executed action film, the locations look slick and not British at all, the cast are handsome and chiseled, and cheerfully smart, if not intelligent, then they are amusingly engaging, not the usual traits of the British hooligan in fiction or even non-fiction (unless you read the "skin head" books of the 1970's.) Their undying loyalty, like a badge of honor, to their various hooligan "firms" is worn proudly and cheerfully, it is a given, as a matter of fact and without any kind of moral warning whatsoever. These lads do what they do because they like it!
There have been a number of films made on the topic of soccer hooligans; ID, The Firm, Football factory, Green Street Hooligans; all have dealt with the various ways the hooligan protagonists coped with the pressure of having to be a part of what is basically a violent criminal organization. As in films about characters in criminal groups, we are usually shown how they want to get out, how they want to go straight, why they are maturing to the point of wanting to find something else in life, why they are better than the criminals they have grown up with...
In Greenstreet 2: Stand your Ground, the characters are hooligans and proud of it, they live for the fight and enjoy reminiscing, they enjoy scrapping and the drinking that follows, or starts it. They enjoy talking about the history of the sport, as they interpret it; at the end of this movie, they are most probably off to another game to cause more trouble, without a shred of guilt, or philosophical remorse.
This is startling and troubling and actually for the first time ever, quite honest.
Far from finding this film unpleasant, I was actually relieved and surprised that it didn't try to convince me to feel sorry for an adult male basically doing what he wanted to, in a free country - it's not free to fight in the street, but you get my drift.
Instead of wading through a bunch of liberal hand wringing; I was encouraged to root for them in their fights, even in their football game, and found myself on the edge of my seat, 100% true, when the hero, Dave, played by Ross McCall has to face off with the menacingly efficient Graham McTavish (John Rambo), finally knocking his tooth out in what has to be one of the bloodiest fist fights in any film, even for a prison film this is bloody good fun!
The standout performer in this grindhouse style pic may well be Luke Massy as Keith, when in his solitary cell his character recites his teams history, it's a haunting and strangely moving scene, one that doesn't, and shouldn't belong in this film, but somehow it does, and should. It is one of many scenes that transcended the material in this gritty, B-movie and really made me sit up and take notice, believe me I wanted to hate this movie.
Massy was a boxer once I believe, and his portrayal of this tainted pugilist is outstanding, it is also the one moment in the film that touches on the history of the ICF, of West Ham, and even back to the Viking hooligans kicking severed heads around, some of the details are known to only a few, but the effect is powerful. No other hooligan movie has got this, yet.
This film is unlikely to please many critics, usually too wrapped up in their own importance to realize that this is diametrically different to anything that has come before. They will be outraged by the positive light thrown onto membership in a football firm, they will be in fits of consternation over the handsome looking leads; "what does this say to our youth, are you condoning membership in a firm, are you saying it's OK to be a hooligan?" I hear them saying, if they say anything at all - well it may be, and it may not be, regardless, like the best films it's doesn't judge, and for once I watched a film about a subject matter with which I am intimate, and it pleased me, rightly.
I highly recommend it, but, it's not for your grannie!