Pigeon Street Was Better (Green Street (Hooligans) (DVD))

Member Name: friendsnut

Product:	Green Street (Hooligans) (DVD)
Date:	11/05/06 (361 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent Soundtrack

Disadvantages: No reality in some scenes, at times comical, not really interesting, some ropey acting

The beautiful game has an ugly side. Well it used to, you don’t seem to hear of hooliganism nowadays. I would imagine it still goes on to a degree but not the mass brawls you may have seen in previous decades.

Green Street is a movie about football fans who see past the game and see Saturday as a pursuit of violence, fights and bruises. Sadly those looking for an honest portrayal of what goes on will be probably be disappointed. This is a film that seems more intent on fantasy rather than reality.

Elijah Wood plays Matt, an American who get’s kicked out of college for something somebody else done. Down on his luck, he comes to London to stay with his sister. It’s here that he gets introduced to the brother of his brother in law. Pete (Charlie Hunnam) is a wide boy cockney with limited social skills and an intimidating demeanour. Matt tags along with Pete to a West Ham game where he experiences his first encounter with the Green Street Elite, a group of fans who stake their territory with rival footy fans in the only way they know how – violence. Soon Matt becomes caught up and addicted to the dangerous game.

This film wouldn’t be half as bad if they managed to give it some degree of believability. There are moments throughout the film that just had me rolling my eyes as they just wouldn’t happen. For example, should a fan masquerade as a steward, get onto the pitch and intimidate the rival supporters causing chaos then what would happen. Well I’d imagine in the real world he’d be arrested, detained and eventually taken to court. Instead this movie has the offender being outside the ground at full time with a little slap on the wrist. Another moment has some rival fans chanting songs that seem to be against the team they actually support. The situations throughout are just risible and it completely ruins any credibility the film is trying to achieve.

The acting is a mixed bag. Wood does okay in the role of the naive American. Hunnam plays his role like a mean Dick Van Dyke complete with comical cockney accent and slang. I did like Leo Gregory as one of the Elite; he seemed to be acting in a far better movie than this. Claire Forlani is merely the female element in a male dominated film.

The soundtrack is a trendy mix of British bands. It’s obvious that the film is trying to cater to the lad culture that read FHM and wear burberry.

I’ve read on the US website for the film that director Lexi Alexander sees the film as a mark of love. Going back for your fellow crewmember that’s love apparently. She makes out that she was once part of football violence. In my opinion she hasn’t translated what she experienced in real life to this film whatsoever.

By the end of the film and it’s laughable battle on the wastelands of London I’d had enough. Green Street is just one of those films that doesn’t really get it’s subject and merely offers up a glossy interpretation.

Summary: Green Street? Stick to Mean Streets or Pigeon Street