Clarissa Mora
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Jemima
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Kinley
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
samandyjohn
For me , Love's emergence as an auteur represents a watershed moment for early twenty-first century British cinema. After the storms of Leigh and Loach have mellowed in recent years, the public awaited , day by day, hour by hour, anxious for a new cinematic messiah to ease their collective cultural consciousness, and to provide adequate imagery for the post thatcher years. I believe the dyer/love collaboration will eventually bear fruit similar to the cross continental greatness of de niro and scorsese, and this visceral, intellectually and emotionally engaging picture will convince others of the revolution of minds love is clearly pursuing.
Big_River
Firstly, this is NOT a movie about soccer! This is a movie about a group of hooligans and the struggle of a young man who is growing up and trying to change his ways."The Football Factory" is a very British Movie and it might be quite difficult for an American audience to relate too.This movie shows the darker side of Britain which an American may not be accustomed to. Don't expect the clean cut British stereotypes with their posh, silver spoon accents because there's no "Pip Pip, cheerio chap" in this script. It contains Cockney slang, dark British humor and profanities throughout. The quality of the acting is very high! Danny Dyer's portrayal of the odd man out is very convincing and the brutal character played by Frank Harper is terrifying Many of his scenes are very graphic and I could literally feel the tension coming into my living room. Although it might not be the directors intention...this movie IS guilty of glamorizing violence and gang culture.
evan_harvey
I am not sure exactly what the point of the film is. The script seems to be trying to channel Trainspotting, but can't quite get a connection. It might have been trying for a 'gritty' sort of feel, but ultimately it ends up looking like a bunch of amateurs.While a film like Green Street may have been Hollywoodised, at least it actually portrays the English football firm mindset with some authenticity. With a techno soundtrack and tries-to-be-snappy narration, The Football Factory strives to be like notable British films such as Trainspotting and Lock Stock, but fails miserably.None of the characters have any depth to them, and the film is bereft of any actual plot. It's a thoroughly un-enjoyable and boring film. The main character is a loser, his best mate is a fat loser and the apparent 'hard man' of the firm is just a fat 40yr old loser. There's no personality and nothing worth watching about any of the characters.Notable failures: some pointless dream sequences thrown in that only serve to ruin further an already crap effort; a recurring taxi driver who is exceedingly annoying; the old guys that just waste more time. Unauthentic, unrealistic, meandering, pointless, and no actual football.
jmbellin
Many will want to know how this compares to Green Street Hooligans. The two stories are handled quite differently. The Football Factory has almost a black comic feel to it. GSH is really the story of one young man's descent into a violent environment and is an emotional drama. TFF has more of the rhythm of a machine gun, with a, great, very high energy music soundtrack keeping it pulsate along the way.Perhaps not as emotionally deeply felt as GSH, TFF keeps you in the thoughts and feelings of those in the gang. It makes it much harder to feel empathy for its characters (as each of them are all aware and enjoy the catharticism of the violent lifestyle), yet incredibly you do. The fact that it also is also very funny in an intended ironic way (much in the way that the protagonist in Sunset Boulevard narrates the story already having already been murdered), this film has that same knowing irony that also keeps the film bubbling.I really enjoyed the ride in this one.
