Football Factory DVD > Reviews > Fancy a ruck?

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Good Hooli movie
Disadvantages:	Only for a target audience

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

football Hooliganism is a subject that has spawned a few movies, but only two worthy of any note The Firm (with Gary oldman) from the 80's and ID from the 90's. Both films are very watchable.

The Football Factory, in case you didnt know, is a movie based around the book by John King centralling on the taboo subject of football hooliganism.

Many people believe, as the national press led them to believe, that the football hooligan and Football Casual scene has deceased since its heyday in 70's and 80's Britain. This film raises the question "has it ever disapperaed or just moved onto a different level?". The answer to this question will leave the viewer with food for thought, and their match day expereince may never be the same again.

The movie plot is based around one central character, Tommy Johnson played by Danny Dyer who lives for the weekend - Drink, drugs, sex and often kicking the sh*t out of people at football.

Tommy is part of a football hooligan gang following Chelsea FC. As the movie progresses Danny has to deal with in-fighting amongst fellow members of his firm, and also the personal dillema of self discovery - what does he want out of life?

As the movie progresses Tommy delves into drugs and has visions of his own downfall, being mortally hurt during a pre-arranged ruck. The various firms are involved in a number of battles before the fianl showdown with Chelseas big rivals......Millwall.

For me some of the scenes are believable and anyone who has ever been involved in or seen football violence first hand will agree.......but at the end of the day it is a movie.

For depiction of football violence, Love’s film scores highly, from the opening assault on a pub full of Spurs fans; the violent revenge attack on a couple of Stoke supporters, en route to an appointment with the red half of Liverpool, and the brutal confrontation between Milwall and Chelsea, deep in ‘bandit country’. It’s all in there!!!

Add this together with ‘spotters’, ‘lookouts’, business transactions between rival thugs (a throwback to those clubbing nights in the late 80's early 90s where fmembers of firms would happily share exctasy pills on a friday night then kick the living daylight out of each other the very next day) it makes for a very good "Hooli" movie.

All in all a good movie, but i think it will only go down well with the "target audience" of young men sho can relate to the characters in the film.

Personally i think Danny Dyer is excellent in the lead role, and has since progressed to present a documentary on Football Firms on the Bravo channel on sky.

The soundtrack to the movie is blinding with tracks from artists such as The Jam, The libertines and Primal Screen just to name a fe

If this is not your "cup of tea" and you want something a little more realistic then i'd recommend a short movie by Dougie Brimson (author of many books about the football casual culture) called "Its a casual life".

Special Features of the DVD include:
Audio Commentary from Nick Love and Danny Dyer.
The Making of The Football Factory
Alternate Opening Scene
Deleted Scenes
Nick Love's Short Film - Love Story
Original Production Design Concepts
Fight Scene
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spot
Goodbye Charlie Bright Trailer
It's All Gone Pete Tong Trailer
The Streets Music Video: Fit But You Know It