Dir. Nick Love, US, 2009, 90mins
Cast: Paul Anderson, Calum McNab, Ben Shockley
Review by Christopher Upton
Football violence isn't really about nowadays in the same form it was. Thanks to CCTV and increased police presence the threat of hooliganism and firms rising up in the way they do in this film is just not possible. That's the first thing that makes this a bit difficult to relate to, but it isn't the main problem.
Calum McNab is Dom, break dancing layabout of east London. He spends his time either pretending to help his dad build or smoking with his mate, the useless Terry. Terry showcases his uselessness one night by starting a fight with West Ham firm runner Bex, played to unhinged perfection by Paul Anderson. While Terry recovers from his head butt to the face Dom becomes closer to Bex, ingratiating himself into the violent gang of football fans. Unfortunately, by the time Dom finds out violence is not his thing he's in too deep to escape.
Based slightly on a TV movie starring Gary Oldman, the new Firm is better than the previous effort; not particularly difficult though as there are more convincing ‘burgers' sold outside football grounds than Oldman's Villain Bex. Unfortunately that is not the film that The Firm has to compete against, and it's a shame because it might have won that fight.
This new venture from Love is up against the film that bought him to the publics attention in the first place, Football Factory . They aren't the same story by any stretch of the imagination, this is a coming of age drama whereas Football Factory was pure release of aggression, but they both play themselves out in the same arena. Where Factory ingratiated you to the characters with their unashamed enjoyment of what they were indulging in, even if it was senseless violence, The Firm doesn't make you feel for any of the characters.
The apparent, baptism of fire, has been seen before and done much better. While Bex's motivation lacks any sort of rationale whatsoever. While it may be churlish to look for rationalisation in this sort of violence, this film suggests that as a football fan you have to adhere to this lifestyle. Which means however meaningful the ending is trying to be you'll really find it difficult to care in the slightest.
The main problem with this is it's an advertisement for Fila tracksuits. Sure you can package it as an insight into football violence, but the same director has already done that much better. This plays out like an extended commercial much more than it does a love letter to the style of the times- the DVD even comes with a take out flyer for tracksuits from the film.
In it's defence the violence is very realistic, so realistic in fact that it managed to trick Scotland Yard into thinking its scenes were real and setting up a manhunt for Paul Anderson. Unfortunately for Love, that one fact is better than this entire film.
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