ONE FILM NOT TO BE MISSED !!! (Green Street: Limited Edition Sleeve Design (DVD))

Member Name: pornstarx2

Product:	Green Street: Limited Edition Sleeve Design (DVD)
Date:	19/03/06 (777 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent theme tune, a good well presented film, good looking actors

Disadvantages: Lots of bad langugae some may find it offensive & a degree of violence

I have never ever reviewed a film & am really dubious but I simply loved this film & feel I have to rave about it. I am not a film person never have been my boyfriend is always telling me off for falling a sleep midway through a film but we have just recently been to the cinema quite a lot.
My boyfriend choose this film because it he loves the whole football hooligan thing (one of those things I think young lads grow out off someday!) & if you have ever watched football factory you can see where this film sort of comes from. This has its similarities but believe me this is a million times better & has much more of a storyline than football factory.

Green Street was released into the cinemas in the UK on the 9th September 05, it last for roughly 1hour 45mins & was directed by Lexi Alexander. Oh & it is an 18 (not been many of these around for a while)

THE CAST

The main characters
Elijah Wood - Matt Buckner (Joint lead)
Charlie Hunnam - Pete Dunham (Joint lead)
Claire Forlani - Shannon Dunham (Matt's sister)
Marc Warren - Steve Dunham (Pete's brother & Shannon's husband)
Geoff Bell - Tommy Hatcher (The baddy)
Henry Goodman -Carl Buckner (Matt's dad)
Terence Jay - Jeremy Van Holden

The boys
Leo Gregory - Bovver
Kieran Bew - Ike
Rafe Spall - Swill
Ross Mccall - Dave

THE BEGINNING
The film starts by introducing you to Pete the leader of the GSE (Green Street Elite) He is part of a large group of men that are part of an old fashioned gang that use football as a reason for violence. The films first scene is actually a fight scene. Pete & his gang are throwing insults back & fourth between them & another group of lads across a train track. A train comes in & the next thing you see is all of them scrapping on top of the You start to think oh ok another one of these bloody films where you have to keep closing your eyes because of the extreme violence, but then it switches to a scene in America & your thinking what the hell has this got to do with anything. The scene is of Matt Buckner a Harvard student sitting on a bed with all his things packed into a rucksack. While he is sitting there with a vacant look on his face an as his so called student friend Jeremy Van Holden thanks him for taking the rap for him, when the school found his drugs in matt's belongings.
The next scene skips to Matt at the airport buying a ticket to the UK. Once in the UK he calls at his sister Shannon's who lives with her baby & husband Steve. Matt is welcomed to the home by Shannon but Steve has a bit of an edge & asks Matt to go out so he can take Shannon to see Chicago. There is always some thing about Steve that you just can't work & when his brother Pete turns up & asks Steve for £100 to go to the pub you can see where the connection forms. Steve tells Matt to go to the football with Pete & tells Pete not to get him into any trouble. At this time you are just sitting on your seat screaming no because you know something is about to go down & poor little Matt is going to get caught up in it all.
Matt leaves with Pete & just as they get around the corner Pete tells him to get lost & do some sight seeing & just hand over half of the money. Matt refuses & wants to go so Pete gets tough & pushes him against the wall but Matt tries to kick him & Pete realises he doesn't see him as a threat & takes him along.

The next scene is when they get to the local pub, which is absolutely heaving with the local football hooligans all dressed in the latest stone island, Henri Lloyd, Burberry, Aquascutum & Peter Shark. This film must have cost a fortune to cast with all these designer labels that everyone was kitted out in.

The first place Pete takes Matt is the local pub where all the local football hooligans hang out. Pete & all his mates are Westham supporters & are just getting warmed up with a few beers for the match against Birmingham FC. Pete introduces Matt to all his mates who all take an instant liking to him as Pete is a well-respected leader & Matt is family after all. The only person who doesn't take to him is Bovver who is not impressed by the American baby face & doesn't mind letting him know he is cold towards him & when they are both in the toilets he tells him he doesn't care who he is but he doesn't like him!
Oooooohohhhhhhoooohhhhhh the tension is building & you almost think Bovver is going to beat him up but you soon realise Bovver is just a chancer with a bad attitude & a sour taste in his mouth as he wasn't the big man of the GSE!

Once the guys set off to the match singing & chanting down the street Matt nearly bottles it & ask's to go home but Pete doesn't have any of it & drags him along to the game. Matt loves the game but at the end he can see there is going to be a huge fight as Westham win & they are all on a high, Pete soon tells Matt to get home & explains the way to go to stay safe but in the distance you can see the Birmingham nasties watching & your on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to kick off.
Next thing you know all the Birmingham lot are chasing Matt & get him down an alley one of them forces a credit card in his mouth to give him a Birmingham smile & just as you think things are going to get nasty the GSE come running out of nowhere & beat all of them up.
Just as you think its over & there getting away in a van one of the Birmingham lot smashes the van windscreen so they chase him to find a group of about 50 blokes to about 10 of them & they then have a huge fight, the GSE coming out on top.
This is the turning point for Matt he realises the GSE are more about friends sticking up for each other & being there through thick & thin & realising that as a group you can conquer anything & anyone.
Matt then starts dressing in the same clothes as Pete & makes the comment "You can do anything when you realise you aren't made of glass" It was such a true comment & could see the attraction Matt had to the big GSE.

THE MIDDLE
After a few meetings & fights Pete & Matt form a special bond. Matt goes back to his sisters & Steve throws him & Pete out because he sees what Pete has turned Matt into. Pete treats Matt like all of his other mates but you can tell they are related he lets Matt stay with him & help out at the school Pete teaches children football & history.
Pete even sticks up for Matt against bovver his long-standing right hand man who dares to do anything for attention.
The next fight scene is when the GSE meet up to go to an away match & Pete & a couple of the lads meet outside the train station & it seems that those three are the only ones turning up. When the train is about to come Pete tells Matt to go home because there would be too much trouble so he leaves & Pete & the other two walk into the station where the rest are waiting. They all board the train & as it leaves the station Matt walks down the aisle Bovver is not happy & wants to know why he has tagged along. Poor Matt thought the other 3 where on there own so joined them for back up. They then get a call from one of the other lads at the station who is working as a security guard & lets them know that lots of away fans where waiting for them outside the station, so they hit the emergency button on the train & got off & ended up getting a lorry driver to take them to the station so they could round on the away supporters from behind to get the better of them. The plan works & the GSE are the top boys everyone hears about the stunt & the GSE are now proper big time & Matt realises the importance of a good reputation & how you have to stand you ground!

Matt's father comes to visit him & begs to take him home with him but Matt refuses
It is then revealed that Matt actually studied Journalism at university but no one knew & the GSE hate nothing more than the police & the press!
Matt's dad take Matt to the local big newspaper just to meet some people but some of the lads from the GSE see him & word gets round.
In the mean time Shannon tells Steve that she hoped Matt would follow in her fathers footsteps. Steve is shocked & then it is revealed that Steve used to be called the governor. The big leader of the GSE he was the big man & looked set to be a football hooligan for the rest of his days until he was shocked into leaving it all behind.
The GSE big enemy is Maxwell & their gang leader Tommy Hatcher He was the ex GSE hard man but left for Milwall & Steve took over. Tommy always took his son to matches & was training him into following his footsteps but in a big fight outside their football ground a fight erupted between Westham & Milwall & Steve saw Tommy's 15 year old soon beaten to death & didn't try to stop it. After this Steve was really moved & left his life of violence for Shannon & his baby.

THE END
Steve & Matt go to the local pub & wait for Pete, as they are doing this Pete's mates have gone to Pete's & gone through all his belongings & found his journal & old university material & put two & two together & think he is a journalist. They go to the pub & find Matt & start a huge row & it only calms down when Steve explains that Matt only studied journalism & was not the traitor they all believed he was. They all listened & let it lie all except for Bovver who thinks they should teach him a lesson. Steve & Pete both turn their back on Bovver & he runs away to Milwall & tells them where they are & that the governor was there someone they had been looking to seek revenge on for ages.
As they get outside the local pub Bovver is smashed over the head with a bottle & when he awakes he finds complete turmoil & wishes he hadn't been a traitor after all!

The Milwall gang had set the pub on fire & started a huge fight with everyone in the pub. Steve was trying to keep out of it all & then ***** got him alone. Steve was apologising & begging for forgiveness & then ***** stabbed him in the throat (aaaaaahhhhhhh it was horrible & made me look away) & said "if you die tonight everything will be even"
Pete & the others dragged him outside while Bovver staggered over in a state of shock & apology. Pete tells him "if you want to help save my brother" bovver breaks into the nearest car & they get Pete into hospital just in time. He survives but is very poorly.

Shannon & everyone see Pete in the hospital & she tells him that she is leaving to go home to America with the baby to be safe. Pete is distraught & sends the message to Milwall that they want a rematch the following day.
The next day the lads prepare to leave for the big brawl & Matt insists on joining them instead of going back to the US with his sister, but Pete is having none of it & tells him it is time for him to go home.

Matt agrees & helps Shannon pack but when she turns her back he runs out of the door & joins the fight. The fight is really bad & everyone on both sides gets really badly hurt because they are all fighting for someone they love, GSE for Steve & Milwall for Tommy's son.

When the fight is coming to an end Shannon turns up looking for Matt & Tommy realises she is Steve's wife & tries to get into her car to kill her & her son (why do these stupid women just not drive off?) & Pete tells Bovver to get them away if he wants him to ever forgive him.
As Shannon is trying to get away Pete shouts to Tommy that he killed his son himself by making him who he was, so Tommy jumps on Pete & finishes him off Pete knew what was coming & so did everyone else it was so sad & heartbreaking, Pete was such a good strong character who everyone looked up to. I felt very sad especially when they told Steve in hospital & he tried to rip all the tubes off his body covering him in blood!

The last scene is sad but a little more lighthearted Matt makes a comment that he learnt that there was a time to stop & that he was going to do what Pete would have wanted.
Then you see Matt go to a very posh hotel where his old college friend Jeremy is. When he goes to the toilet he gets him to confess that the drugs that where found where in fact his, as the college ass tries to turn nasty Matt knocks him to the ground & tells him not to bother.
The ending is off Matt walking down the street alone clapping & singing I'm forever blowing bubbles pretty bubbles in the sky (Westham's song)
It is really good end to a really good film.


MY OVERALL OPINION
I thought the film was brilliant & so did the people who I watched it with, I felt it really had a good storyline & had just the right amount of violence. It was a violent film but it wasn't over the top. I thought Elijah & Charlie where amazing in the film Pete was such a believable character & so likeable. Matt well what can I say perfect I wasn't sure at the beginning if he fitted the character but it worked really well because he was never meant to look like the big hard man he was always meant to look like MR innocent & we all know Elijah wood is.
An amazing film. Very moving & such a good group of actors to pull it off!
I would certainly recommend this to anyone unless you don't like violence at all, if you don't mind it you will be ok with this film because it isnt as bad as you think.

Summary: See title !!