Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

holstenpils20 Why would anyone want to re-make Alan Clarke's The Firm? I don't think Alan Clarke would've liked this rubbish at all. It is an insult to his work. And you cannot replace Gary Oldman, he was great as Bex. The other bloke was pathetic! The original 'The firm' was a great film with some great British actors in it. Alan Clarke was a great director and there was no need to have a go at re-makin this film. Scum was a classic, I bet Nick Love wouldn't fancy re-makin that (actualy, some one has re made that film in America and called it 'Dog Pound' Unfortunately). Also I don't remember anyone wearin a full yellow Tachini (sorry, probably haven't spelt that right) track suit in the 80s or those stupid shorts he had on in the club at the beginnin. It was just dreadful. I really had to force myself to watch it right until the end.

bobhartshorn The late Alan Clarke's original 1988 version of The Firm was an allegory on the Thatcher regime dealing with the rise of football violence in the suburbs. The story concerned the activities of the ICC (Inner City Crew), a gang of West Ham supporters who engaged in pitched battles with their rival clubs' hooligan contingent. I missed it the first time around and only caught up with it very recently on DVD and found it to be a dated, campy, theatrical affair that seemed more concerned with presenting a political parallel to the Iron Lady's tyranny than properly addressing that era's (equally troubling) violence on the terraces. At the very least though, it did have a point and a purpose, both of which must have run for the hills when the 'genius' that is Nick Love (the non-thinking man's Guy Ritchie) came a-knocking at this particular property's door for a Noughties 'reimagining'.With an impressive lack of insight/understanding for the source material, Mockney-boy Love launches his audience head first into an ineptly staged 1984 set tale, of a young wannabe soccer lout, Dom (Calum McNab), finding himself befriended and welcomed into the ICC's ranks by top dog, Bex (Paul Anderson), only to get on his bad side when he develops cold feet and tries to make a run for it.Love club-footedly hops from one ill devised scene to the next, assaulting the senses with his trademark tin-eared dialogue and vacuous pop-promo visuals, making it increasingly obvious that he has no more interest in the psychological make-up of working class hoodlums than he does in trying to hone credible performances from his largely wooden cast. In fact, the whole enterprise has amateur hour written all over it: too much of the story takes place in too few locations, instantly betraying it's meagre budget and giving the proceedings a fake, plastic sheen. A skilled and talented director would have pulled out all the stops to paper over the cracks and create the illusion of a more costly production, but Love's lack of flair and imagination insures he does neither. This woeful handling of resources ultimately undoes the fight scenes too. Anyone who was around during that period (like I was), will clearly remember that these gang battles took place inside the grounds, and not on the streets as they're depicted here. Were you aiming for a revisionist angle Mr Love?Worst of all though, is the dispiriting, vulgar display of designer sportswear on show. Instead of using this cosmetic tick as an incidental background detail to enhance the story's sense of time and place, it's pushed crassly to the front line for a crude catwalk assembly of primary coloured tracksuits and 'smart casual' togs, resulting in an overstuffed canvas of Logo-porn to lather up the army of Ad*das fetishists this shameless parade is no doubt squarely aimed at.And if none of that has 'whetted' your appetite, then all the above is accompanied by a putrid, pumping 80's disco-pap soundtrack to give your ears a kicking as well as your eyes. 'Enjoy'.

FlashCallahan Dom is a teenager who finds himself drawn into the charismatic world of football 'casuals,influenced by the firm's top boy, Bex.Accepted by the gang for his fast mouth and sense of humour, Dom soon becomes one the boys.But as Bex and his gang clash with rival firms across the country and the violence spirals out of control, Dom realises he wants out - until he learns it's not that easy to simply walk away.I do like Nick Love. Sometimes his movies and him are subliminally referred as the British Uwe Boll. This isn't the case. His films are an acquired taste.It's a shame then that he has gone slightly downhill remaking the classic BBc drama of the eighties. That was a gritty film, not glamorising the violence, and Focused on Bex's family life struggling with his obsession of football. And it was sometimes very funny with it's witty script.Even though this film is entertaining, they have made a huge mistake by not focusing on Bex as the main character, they have decided to go down the route of every football hooligan flick, and focus on a newbie.And it just doesn't have the same impact. The Football Factory/Green Street/Awaydays have already covered this, so why did Love decide to take a step back.Other than that though the film is quite solid, and a lot of the characters are amusing, and if you are a fan of the eighties, you will feel a little bit of nostalgia hearing music and seeing TV shows and the fashion.So it's not all bad, but sadly a little disappointing, especially the scenes that are taken right from the original.If you haven't seen the Oldman version, see this first, and see a true classic.

ESXTony After seeing some magazine articles about the film I was full of hope that this may be the best football hoolie film yet and certainly give a 'truer' representation of what life was like following football in the early eighties. Unfortunately, the reality is that it really carries no direction, you don't really find out anything about any of the characters and the lack of violence doesn't do the film any favours. Gary Oldman was a real 'psycho' in the original, Paul Anderson does a reasonable job but just wasn't menacing enough. The fight scenes were very poor, showing stand offs rather than actual fighting, that just wasn't what happened when two firms arranged a meet in the 80's. The music bought back a few memories and the best part of the film was the clothing, at least they got that right to a certain extent with Sergio, Fila, Ellesse and Pringle getting a good showing. Overall, it's a watchable film but it's not a great football film, not a lot of action and it isn't the best hooligan film to date, the original still takes that accolade. It's a shame but I don't think the original 'Firm' is likely to be beaten.