Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

jadavix "The Football Factory" is a passable, entertaining movie about football thugs. It does not absurdly glamourise this moronic pass-time like "Green Street Hooligans", which expected us to be taken in by the culture of violence as its miscast hero was. It does, however, wallow in the muck a bit much, and it doesn't provide much of a reason for its hero's involvement in this horrible business.Furthermore, the punchy style, with its quick, in your face editing, blaring soundtrack of recognizable bands, pugnacious voice-over, title cards, blink and you miss them flashback sequences, all combine to keep you at a distance from the protagonist. This is the style you expect from a British movie about the working classes, but by 2004 it was looking a little tired. It jazzes up the material, and is that really necessary? Do the creators love the violent lifestyle, or condemn it? They clearly do not wish to merely depict it, there's too much staging for that.Danny Dyer is also miscast. He is introduced at the beginning of the movie as a typical young hoodlum. He doesn't look, or even really act, like one. There is some nonsense about him having recurring dreams that don't really add anything to the movie, or the character. After all the noise, swearing, violence and mayhem, they don't make enough of an impact to really justify their presence.The movie is still watchable, it's just really not anything great.

bkjones1971 I don't know much about English football or hoolaganism. However, I've become fairly good friends with Vinnie Jones here in the states. We met through a common friend and I've hunted with him a couple of times. He rode with me the night he was almost killed in a bar fight in South Dakota. Wild night that was. He asked me to testify in his defense, but his lawyer never needed me. Whew.Anyway, getting to know him made me want to learn more about where/what he came from. I've seen a couple of these movies and enjoyed them. The only exception would be trainspotting. I couldn't make it past the first 45 minutes of that film.

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.