Rent Rise of the Footsoldier (2007)

Starts with the most brutally realistic football fight scenes you'll see - otherwise run-of-the-mill - Rise of the Footsoldier review by RP

For some unknown reason, I re-watched this the other night. It's at best run-of-the-mill, but it is one of the better 'Essex gangster' films dealing with the events around what are known as the Rettendon murders (look 'em up on Wikipedia). It's not a great film, so why I watched it again I'm really not sure...

The film is adapted from the autobiography of one Carlton Leach and is told in a pseudo-documentary style, with voiceover commentary from the actor playing Leach. He started his career of violence in the 1980s on the terraces of West Ham, as one of the hooligan members of the notorious InterCity Firm, so called because they took the regular train to away matches, where they met rival firms (=hooligan gangs) from the opposing team for brutal punch-ups.

He graduated from that to running a firm of club doormen, then to other 'muscle' jobs, to drug using, to drug wholesaling, fell in with Essex gang leaders, finally being on the inside track to knowing the truth (?) behind the Rettendon murders. The film shows three possible scenarios for the killings, one of which was that used to convict two men of the murders.

A couple of well known 'hard man' actors (Craig Fairbrass, Billy Murray) get parts.

It's not a great film, but the first 15 minutes dealing with football hooligans does have some of the most brutally realistic fight scenes that I've seen on screen - it makes other films dealing with the 1980s hooligan firms look like kids' stuff.

I'll give it 2/5 stars, then raise it to 3 stars because of the dreadfully realistic first 15 minutes.

Very Violent British Crime Film - Rise of the Footsoldier review by GI

Relentlessly violent this is a British crime film that lacks any subtlety or characters that you can feel anything for. It's based on true events and is structured around one main character for most of the film before deviating into a controversial real murder case. Carlton Leach (Ricci Harnett) is a street thug who rises in the world of football hooliganism in the 70s & 80s, his life basically one big violent ruck with just about anyone. The film depicts this particularly unpleasant world as bloody, frightening battles that take place on the London Underground and on the streets as Leach and his gang travel to indulge their addiction on brutal fighting. This is not just fists either, here we get the full scale use of machetes and axes and all the fearsome injury detail that accompanies their use. Leach's infamy in this world leads to bouncer duty at local Clubs and into the world of organised drug gangs. His friendship with one dealer, Tony Tucker (Terry Stone) brings him into the circle of ever increasingly psychopathic criminals epitomised in Patrick Tate (Craig Fairbrass). Tucker, Tate and another man are eventually brutally murdered in a quiet Essex wood. Into this loose story of disturbingly unpleasant people the film shows Leach in failed relationships, including his very short temper that offers up marital abuse, drug abuse and lots of grimaces. The best thing about the film is the depiction of the murders in which three separate potential scenarios are shown. A film that seems to have no real clear narrative thread as it meanders from violent set piece to the next and almost gives up on the Leach character to concentrate on the murders. It's an unpleasant film, far too gratuitous and glorifying the world it seeks to portray and the justification for the final killings is really just a way of trying to give some honour to these despicable people.

where have i seen before - Rise of the Footsoldier review by CP Customer

reminded me of essex boys