| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
A- |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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Hooligans Packs a Big Punch
by emanhwang (movies profile)
Feb 27, 2006
3
of
4 people found this review helpful
Coming into the theater, I was not too sure about what to expect from Green Street Hooligans. This movie was recommended to me from one of my friends, who actually saw the premier down in Austin. When I heard it was playing in Harvard Square, I jumped at the chance to see what this film was about. Afterwards, as the final credits were rolling, I must say that I came out of the theater emotionally pumped.
Hooligans is the story of a young Harvard student, Matt Buckner, who is a few months shy of getting his degree. Unfortunately, his roommate, the son of a powerful politician, gets into some trouble. Matt has no other choice but to take the fall, but at least he is rewarded with a mere $10,000. This is where the story begins, and it gets rolling from that point forward.
The overall story of the film is not very original, but it does make for an interesting sequence of events. Parts of it could definitely have been tweaked to make it more realistic plot-wise, but that is just purely my opinion. Acting, on the other hand, was one of the strong points of the movie. First of all, you don't quite expect Elijah Wood to be the sort of character that goes out to brawl with a bunch of guys. I found it guite funny to see how he was always overshadowed by his taller comrades during the fight scenes. But even this shows the audience that people who have never experienced any form of violence can be led into it through a vision of things grander than the individual itself. Alongside Wood is a bunch of no-namers, although some might have heard of Charlie Dunnam and Claire Forlani before. Dunnam's character, Pete, was one of the highlights to see. His fierce personality was noticed from the very beginning. Gradually, as the movie progresses, you become drawn to his character and admire his charisma.
The direction of the fight scenes could have been a little bit better. I thought the shots were much too shaky at times, although this was probably done to portray the chaos going on during the brawl. However, I really liked how the film's visual tone captured the grimy atmosphere of the London streets. It almost had a greenish hue to it, possibly stemming from the name Green Street Hooligans.
Ultimately, this movie is one I will remember for a while because of the way it showed the violent nature of human beings. Taking a little bit from Ebert, I believe the film accurately portrayed how some people can become so violent, almost to an animal nature, over just a simple football match. The genius of this film is that we get caught up in the fights; watching it makes us want to be there and to experience it, to feel the horrific nature of either punching someone or getting hit yourself. And at the same time, we feel a bond to the fighters, almost as if it was a brotherhood, which in the movie it is. But then again, I am a man, so perhaps I have those violent tendencies deep inside me as well. |
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