Rise of the Footsoldier (2008)

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.

"Rise of the Footsoldier" is a violent and very realistic British movie that shows the story of the British scum Carlton Leach (Ricci Harnett), who was a bully hooligan of a gang in soccer stadiums in the 70's and 80's and his rise to the position of one of the most feared gangsters on the streets of London and Essex in the 90's.Julian Gilbey made a realistic movie that is many moments seem to be a documentary, with stunning performances of the cast. However, criminals like Carlton Leach, Tony Tucker and Pat Tate are the scum of the society that should be forgotten indeed. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Guerra entre Gangues" ("War between Gangs")

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 ?

Gritty, well-acted, intelligently put together, generally authentic looking and the violence is horrible but that's what's needed to show the viewer just how unpleasant people like this and the violence they mete out is.It's the Hollywood type sanitised violence that should be criticised - one thing this film does is show how unglamourous violent crime is. Problem is a lot of the poor marks given to this film by both the critics and the public are because such people live cosy little middle class lives where luckily for them they've remained firmly insulated from the nasty world portrayed in this film and like to think it doesn't exist.