Hello All,
So moment of truth time, my knowledge of international films is not great. Luckily though, I have friends with knowledge greater than my own on that subject, so I can get suggestions from them. Today, I’m tackling a trilogy of films from England. Specifically, we’re looking at the Green Street Hooligans Series, three films with varying approaches to the subject of Football Hooliganism. For the sake of time we’re going to try and keep these concise and short. So how does the trilogy hold up as a whole? Let’s find out shall we?
Green Street Hooligans Review
Plot Summary - Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) travels to england to visit his sister after getting expelled from Harvard. While there, he meets local football hooligan Pete Dunham (Charlie Hunnam), his sister’s husband’s brother. When Pete learns Matt has never been in a fight, he invites him to join his football firm, The Green Street Elite, and learn about embracing life to it’s fullest.
Pros - Overall it’s a really great film. The cast is solid, the story is interesting and well told, and it’s moves along at a really great pace as well.
Cons - There’s some minor inconsistencies in logic, and I’ll admit the setup to the climax of the film is a bit overly elaborate.
Final Score - 9/10
Honestly, it’s a great film, and a definite watch for anyone looking at British Cinema.
Green Street 2: Never Back Down Review
Plot Summary - Dave Miller (Ross McCall), and other members of the Green Street Elite, have been sent to prison after the events of the first film. While inside, they find members of their opposing firm waiting for them. The group must learn to survive in prison, while also trying to find their way out as well.
Pros - I’ll admit, the change in setting is interesting, as it could’ve been a great opportunity to see some consequences of the actions of the first film.
Cons - Too bad the rest of the film doesn’t capitalise on that. This was a straight to video release and it shows. At ninety minutes, the story is overstuffed, the character development is minimal, the pacing is awful, and most importantly the film suffers from genre schizophrenia. It’s trying to do a lot well, and ends up doing it all awfully.
Final Score - 1/10
A far, far departure from the first film, I honestly cannot recommend it at all.
Green Street 3: Never Back Down
Plot Summary - Danny Harvey (Scott Adkins) returns to the Green Street Elite to find out who killed his younger brother. Having been away for so long, he is shocked to learn that football hooliganism has changed drastically, having changed into more organized matches. He promises to bring the GSE to it’s former glory, while also working to find the man who killed his brother.
Pros - Luckily, the film manages to maintain focus on what it’s trying to do this time around. It feels a lot more organized and it flows a lot better as well.
Cons - Sadly, the film also suffers greatly from huge plot problems. Sadly, most of the plot is relegated to the background in exposition chunks in exchange for focusing more on the fight sequences. Unfortunately the film basically also chucks the football out for these scenes as well so the whole film feels like pointless fight scenes with barely any context.
Final Score - 2/10
While this film can maintain an idealistic standard of consistency, it’s unfortunately so far from the glory of the first film.
So there you have, it’s another case of a great film followed up by bad sequels.
Next Suggestion Box Review: Neighbours 2 - Apparently, someone thinks I was too hard on the first one by not watching it, so they think this one will change my mind. Or they just want to see me suffer. Probably both.
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Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.
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