Rise of the Footsoldier (2008)

Too much of everything

That was an excellent one.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The life-story (so far) of infamous West Ham United football hooligan, Carlton Leech. Starting in the 1970s, young Carlton joins the ICF hooligan gang and as the years pass into the early 1980s becomes a leading figure in the organised mob of East London thugs – taking on football gangs from around London and across the country, making a name for himself as a fearless street-fighter and gang-leader. Working as night club bouncer in some of East London's roughest venues, Carlton has the foresight and skills to organise security firms as the Acid House and Rave era dawns over the UK – and in the process, whilst his marriage suffers, he makes more contacts and a lot of money. Controlling the drug traffic through the doors of the venues, with a small army of ex-hooligans turned bouncers, the error of a couple of his men land him and his organisation in a war with the London Turkish Mafia. Coming through the other side, littered with casualties, Carlton enters the 1990s with over a decade of blood on his hands, a wealth of underworld experience – and a reputation to be feared and respected. But the 1990s bring a new era of Essex based criminals and new way of doing things.Partnering up with Tony Tucker, an Essex playboy gangster, Carlton finds himself amongst the wild, brash criminal circles of the richer suburban towns outside London and on the edge of one of the most shadowy and suspicious criminal conspiracies of modern British gangland lore – the Range Rover Murders."Rise of the Footsoldier" is a fantastic Brit gangland film which achieves not only in telling the story of the connection between football hooliganism and organised crime, but does so with both speed and detail. The early sequences of mass hooligan fights through the 70s and 80s is nothing short of brilliant and is by far the best portrayal of any films in the genre. The Acid House and rave era is depicted with style and energy, whilst remaining faithful to telling Carlton's story, and we never lose sight of the journey he makes as a character – and as Carlton and his boys move into paid-for-violence debt collecting and eventually into gang war against the Turkish group, again the pacing, deft direction of the action and the drama of Carlton's life are perfectly balanced, making the film not only one that is gripping but also a fully engaging experience, which any movie lover will appreciate. The only issue with the film is that the final chapter, the 'Essex boys' part of his story, feels detached from the rest of the film. It is essentially Act 4. Carlton is reduced to a minor player and so the final part of the film focuses on three new characters backed-up by three new supporting characters – it is their story, of which Carlton makes only fleeting appearances. That said, this aspect will not bother some viewers in the slightest and "Rise of the Footsoldier" remains an excellent film which must be watched.

In American gangster movies the protagonist finds himself pursuing the American dream via the American existentialist capitalist nightmare . By this I mean he finds a violent purpose in a meaningless uncaring world , a purpose that usually leads to his destruction either literally or metaphorically . Brtish cinema doesn't have a long tradition of this type of movie and perhaps the closest we have in this country is the football hooligan film . Mindful of this director Julian Gilbey has made a film trying to bridge the gap between the two Is he successful ? Yes and no . Yes to the fact that he's made a dark violent thriller but no judging by the amount of comments along the lines of " I watched this movie thinking it was a biopic on Carlton Leach only to find he disappears halfway through " What the film is not is a biopic but if proof is ever needed that crime does not pay then an audience could do a lot worse than watch RISE OF THE FOOT SOLDIER It's certainly memorable but I mean this in a dubious way . It's certainly not pleasant and Gilbey concentrates on the gore and violence . Perhaps too much so as he introduces conspiracy theories as to why three violent gangsters are executed gangland style . Why does he do this ? Simply to show three criminals get blasted to death in the most graphic way possible . You can't get enough of seeing a naughty boy get shot in the face with a shotgun ? Good because you'll be able to see it happen at least three times from different angles . Gilbey is trying to emulate Scorsese though he's not entirely successful . That said one had hoped he'd be more prolific . After all who wants to watch British art house or period dramas all day ?

There have been three films about the Rettendon Murders and the rise of Essex gangsters, Rise of the Footsoldier, Essex Boys and Bonded by Bond. Rise of the Footsoldier is considered the best of the trio, even though there is a big divide between critics and audiences.Carlton Leach (Ricci Harnett) is a football hooligan for West Ham's firm, the I.C.F. who becomes a bouncer. In the mid 80s he slowly rises, forming a business of thuggery, offering protection for clubs, drug dealers, torturing people, doing drugs runs and dealing ecstasy during the rise of the rave scene. But slowly as Carlton becomes more involved into violence, crossing Turkish gangster and getting more involved with gangsters and their various conflicts and turf wars.Julian Gilbey is seen as a rising star as a director, making British action films. His first film was an awful student film, Reckoning Day, his first real film Rollin' with the Nines was an improvement, Rise of the Footsoldier again an improvement and his latest film A Lonely Place to Die is seen as his best film so far. At this rate he should be making a Oscar winning classic very soon. With Rise of the Footsoldier he certainly delivers a very fast pace film, there is never a dull moment. Rise of the Footsoldier is a very violence film, being extremely brutal with people getting hit with a variety of weapons, getting tortured and blood flying around all over the play. The early hooligan scenes reminded me of The Football Factory, using hand held cameras, attempting a gritty feel and using a voice-over (though I think The Football Factory is a much better film). I particularly like the beginning about showing Carlton being a gangster and the end showing the shooting and the different scenarios it could have happened. Gilbey does have some stylish moments showing the worst case scenarios if they go to war with the Turkish gangsters, which was particularly well done.Acting wise its passable. There is nothing spectacular from the actors but no one was awful either. A problem is that Rise of the Footsoldier that it relies too much the old British cliché of constant strong swearing, using the f and c word all the time. I would have preferred more characterisation and seem more interaction between the characters, more of their personal lives and how their operations featured besides from the beginning.Rise of the Footsoldier is a decent film and a well directed piece of work.

The general rule of thumb is post 'lock,stock...' if your looking to make a British gangster movie you must have either danny dyer or someone whose at least been in east enders in a role. 'rise of the foot soldier' honours one of these two choices and despite the absence of Mr dyer,its still ends up being rubbish.Where to start? well how about the acting apart from a few exceptions,most of the cast seem to have taken the Sylvia young drama lesson 101 in'i'm a cocker-nay,i is honest guvnor',not that the script demands much more depth of characterisation, it's all 'you facking cant this,you facking cant that, all accompanied by a the obligatory strained grimaces.It tells you something that craig fairbrass (an actor so wooden he gets a termite infestation regularly)comes on like Marlon Brando in comparison to the rest of the cast.The acting/script isn't the only thing that ridden with cliché,the action set pieces are so over stylised that any rawness or grit is washed away in it attempt to out guy Ritchie,guy Ritchie.Music of the time is also used crassly and unimaginatively to save the director/budget the effort of chronicling the years depicted effectively I may sound harsh,but this is a film i dearly wanted to love,the Rettendon murder case is fascinating,and this was a chance to highlight a time when the British underworld's bloody antics bubbled to the surface.But what your left with is a film so safe,so sanitized and about as profound or interesting as an episode of 'the bill', only with more claret guvnorrrrrrrrrr