Green Street (Hooligans) Review
Set in the world of football hooliganism, Lexi Alexander's film casts Elijah Wood as a former journalism student who joins West Ham's 'firm' and runs riot with his newfound mates in London's East End
Hot on the Reebok-clad heels of Nick Love's The Football Factory comes Lexi Alexander's marginally better Green Street, another attempt to delve into the world of British football hooliganism. Based upon West Ham FC's own unofficial gang of ruffians - or 'firm' - known as the Green Street Elite (GSE), the film tells of how disgraced Harvard student Matt Buckner (Wood) gets sucked into a world of violence.
Arriving in England, Matt is introduced to the gang by his brother-in-law's younger sibling, Pete (Hunnam), now the self-styled leader of the GSE. While Matt's sister Shannon (Forlani) is appalled that her brother has become a member of his own personal Fight Club, her husband Steve (Warren) suffers divided loyalties between his wife and his tearaway brother.
As the film progresses, the once-great GSE - on the decline since the departure of their mysterious leader The Major - experience a renaissance after the weedy Matt joins and discovers he has a taste for blood. Expelled from Harvard for drug dealing - in fact, he took the rap for his rich roommate - Matt has a lot of pent-up anger, which he foists onto unsuspecting louts. Meanwhile, West Ham draw Millwall in the FA Cup, meaning a head-on collision between two of the league's hardest firms. Led by the gruesome Tommy Hatcher (Bell), scarred by the loss of his own son during a clash years before, the Millwall boys are out for revenge - not helped by the defection of greasy GSE member Bovver (Gregory). Just in case you don't quite get the main theme, Pete handily sums it up: "We stuck by our mates and stood our ground. That's what it's all about."
Arriving in England, Matt is introduced to the gang by his brother-in-law's younger sibling, Pete (Hunnam), now the self-styled leader of the GSE. While Matt's sister Shannon (Forlani) is appalled that her brother has become a member of his own personal Fight Club, her husband Steve (Warren) suffers divided loyalties between his wife and his tearaway brother.
As the film progresses, the once-great GSE - on the decline since the departure of their mysterious leader The Major - experience a renaissance after the weedy Matt joins and discovers he has a taste for blood. Expelled from Harvard for drug dealing - in fact, he took the rap for his rich roommate - Matt has a lot of pent-up anger, which he foists onto unsuspecting louts. Meanwhile, West Ham draw Millwall in the FA Cup, meaning a head-on collision between two of the league's hardest firms. Led by the gruesome Tommy Hatcher (Bell), scarred by the loss of his own son during a clash years before, the Millwall boys are out for revenge - not helped by the defection of greasy GSE member Bovver (Gregory). Just in case you don't quite get the main theme, Pete handily sums it up: "We stuck by our mates and stood our ground. That's what it's all about."
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