Mean Machine (DVD)

Don't you just love it when a movie on television just reaches out and grabs you, compelling you to watch the remaining two hours. Well maybe Mean Machine didn't exactly grab me as I saw it in the Channel 4 line-up, but with nothing else to really watch you can't argue with a Sunday night movie. Of course my experiences with Ch4 movies haven't been great, I seem to remember the last one I watched was Cabin Fever, one of my most hated movies of all time, so how did Mean Machine fair at filling in that gap in the schedule between 10pm and midnight? I literally knew nothing about Mean Machine, I'm pretty sure it is a film title I have heard of in passing but it ...

Lets be honest movies about sport are generally not very good, and in my humble opinion those that have been moderately entertaining have not been about football. The sporting themed movies I have enjoyed have been mostly about American sports and included Slapshot and Major League, both primarily because they were funny and played on the extremes of American sporting culture, also Slapshot was set in the 70?s so you could also have a giggle at the clothes. Mean Machine is a remake of another American film The Longest Yard and unfortunately does not come up to scratch when compared with the original. The premise of the story is the same with Mean Machine ...

~ ~ I wanted to like this movie, Mean Machine (2001), starring ex-bad boy footballer Vinnie Jones, I really did. I’ve been a fan of the Jones boy ever since his playing days, and thought he played good (if somewhat limited) roles in some of his early movies such as Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” So when I spotted this newcomer on the DVD shelves of my local video store, it was snatched up immediately, and a good evening’s entertainment was envisaged. To say that I didn’t enjoy the movie would be an overstatement, but certainly I came away a little disappointed, and not having enjoyed it as much as I thought I ...