samandyjohn For me , Love's emergence as an auteur represents a watershed moment for early twenty-first century British cinema. After the storms of Leigh and Loach have mellowed in recent years, the public awaited , day by day, hour by hour, anxious for a new cinematic messiah to ease their collective cultural consciousness, and to provide adequate imagery for the post thatcher years. I believe the dyer/love collaboration will eventually bear fruit similar to the cross continental greatness of de niro and scorsese, and this visceral, intellectually and emotionally engaging picture will convince others of the revolution of minds love is clearly pursuing.

Max Swindlehurst I've watch the "Green Street Hooligan's" several months ago and thought it was a good movie but this film is like a rush of blood to the head. "The Football Factory" is the ultimate head blowing, jaw clenching, white knuckle ride of a film. This film has all the elements to make up a night of exciting viewing, from though provoking characters, witty dialogue to energized music to watch boys batter each other.To begin theirs Tommy, fast approaching 30 and not a clue what to do with his sad little life, only thing he¹s clinging onto is the next big meet and Billy Bright the foul mouthed, bad tempered geezer who lost the ability to engage his brain a long time ago, he¹s only comfortable using his fists. Rod who does a stellar performance in a restaurant, acts as a perfect side kick to Tommy, Bill Farrell the perfect gentleman from a bygone era and Harris the mean-faced leader who could have Vinnie Jones for breakfast, plays the distant yet commanding leader.But I like the young kid who plays Zebberdee, a scaly living like vermin in the depths of South London, this is all credit to the acting as it must be difficult to play someone who is so detrimental to society and has very little redeeming features. Credit must be given to all the actors as they all deliver stellar performances in what must be the most unglamorous locations. There isn't one performance I would say was weak as they all hold the audiences attention and gage us into what they are doing and saying. I found the violence and fashion to be very realistic. "The Football Factory" is more than just football, its about loyalty, and a sense of belonging in this dysfunctional world.

Ryan Preston (ryshpr) To be honest, movies like The Football Factory aren't usually ones I enjoy. But this one really surprised me. The Football Factory is a study of the English obsession with football violence and hooliganism, but there's so much more here. It's documentary-like presentation gives the film more charm than if it was presented as just a generic movie.Although I do have to say that Danny Dyer seems to play the same character in every movie he's in (Doghouse, Severance and Mean Machine are just a few examples) you can't fault him for it because he does it well and believably. His character, Tommy Johnson, is a typical British football fan who just, as he puts it, "loves to f*cking fight".Dyer also narrates the movie, giving it that documentary vibe, making you think you're actually watching a retelling of events that have actually happened. Dyer's narration also gives his character a little more depth and does a good job of effectively separating him from the rest of the cast.The Football Factory is essentially played out as a serious approach to the issue of football hooliganism, but there's something more there. The sub-plot of Tommy's granddad and his war-time friend moving abroad together with Tommy's recurring dreams that play out like sort of Final Destination-esquire premonitions give the story that little bit more depth.The Football Factory is a hugely entertaining and funny movie that isn't exclusively for only football fans. It's nothing brilliant, but it's a pretty good watch.http://ukmore.tk/

davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning In what were still the early noughties, Nick Love sparked what was to be a string of football violence related movies of the decade with this high energy, hard hitting exploration of male culture and the lure of the crowd, and in turn provided star making turns for both himself and lead actor Danny Dyer.From the opening credits, The Football Factory hammers your senses and drags you in for the ride with it's high tempo soundtrack interspersed with the various headlines of the scourge of football hooliganism, a style it will keep up through-out the rest of the film. The film is aiming for your face and brilliantly uses a heavy beat soundtrack to drag it along through-out. It gained more attention for it's controversy because of it's violence and mind blowing amount of bad language than for any stand out performances, in much the same way Alan Clarke's TV drama The Firm did two decades before it.Like Trainspotting, there is no 'plot' as such, it more just follows hooligan Tommy (Dyer) about with his gang as he begins to suffer nightmares and question his means of releasing his pent up energy, whilst a big clash with Millwall looms on the horizon. But this doesn't detract from it's startling, raw intensity and intense delving into the minds of men looking for armies to join. Dyer cemented himself as the Ray Winstone of his generation with his 'cockney geezer' persona, with his own cult film on the same level Winstone gained his notoriety for his role in Scum. Special note must also be made to Frank Harper as Billy Bright, an ageing hooligan who can't grow up or accept he will never be top dog, Roland Manookian as drug addled low life Zeberdee and Dudley Sutton as Old Man Farrell, the closest to a sane, law abiding head among all these repressed hot heads.Yes, the film is filled with mostly undesirable characters who are the kind most of us would want to keep a million miles away from in real life. But only the most faint hearted of us would find their violence too much and only the most weak minded would want to imitate it. As a nosedive into this world and as a study of why they do it, TFF is the best film of it's sort all decade, with the energy, intensity and killer soundtrack to make it accessible to a modern audience. It's only a shame I couldn't appreciate it on as many levels as it deserved the first time I saw it. *****