Review of Rise of the Footsoldier (2007) by Drew L — 07 Jan 2012

Rise of the Footsoldier is ridiculous. Young football hooligan Carlton Leach enjoys violence and dishes it out on a regular basis, punching people in the face, head butting, stabbing etc. Part of the problem is that Ricci Harnett playing Leach is not totally convincing as a physical presence, could he actually beat all these people up in real life?. A bit like the Pierce Brosnan in James Bond problem, not enough bulk. Anyway Harnett does a good job of playing the nasty guy that the audience loves to hate. To be fair he does get 'lumped up' working down the gym and gets several reliable 'lumps' to help him carry out his deeds. But the real nastiness begins when Craig Fairbrass shows up. Now this is someone you definitely want to see get killed as soon as possible...what an animal. He goes round beating up people in fast food resturants just coz they ask him for the bill or don't have the right kind of pizza topping. The way that on two occasions in broad daylight he carries out extreme acts of violence in very public places hinders the film's credibility as being based on real life events. So no-one would say ANYTHING?, even though about 30 people witnessed it happening?. Surely these guys are more subtle, that's why its called the 'underworld'?, much of this is the 'overworld'. Surely the most ludicrous moment is when Fairbrass is in what we are led to believe is a regular NHS hospital nursing a bullet to the arm. He is snorting Cocaine and has a naked woman just sitting on his bed!. Even Leach comes in and says 'this is supposed to be a hospital innit?.

This is where British directors go wrong with gangster films. They always have to over sensationalise the violence. Look at Scorsese, that's how to do a gangster film. Its violent, but somehow more subtle. Perhaps there's just better acting on show there as well!. Fairbrass is totally over the top, he makes Joe Pesci from Goodfellas look like Thumbelina!. When watching this film I had the feeling that certain things were familiar to me and then I realised that the plot is almost the same as 'Essex Dogs' another awful film, this time with Sean Bean playing the main heavy.

The film may appeal to fans of British gangster films, but I just ended up hoping all the lead characters would die in the end as there was NOTHING about their characters that made the audience care about them. Ricci Harnett was quite good, at least they didn't cast that excrement of acting that is Danny Dyer.