You East London “See you next Thursday”!

The Firm – Nick Love

A late review yes, but only just peeping it out on DVD, it deserved to be recognised. A film that breaks the mould of the hooligan film, well kinda, it doesn’t focus on it too much. It’s more about the comedy, more about capturing the era, the early nineties, the late eighties, showing the horrible fashion sense, the music and the times when it mattered. The firms of West Ham and Millwall, sure, they’ve always had bad press, talking about fans attacking other fans and police. But let’s not get too into that, it’s been done to death in the papers, especially being a Millwall fan myself, its shit how many times the media have to jump onto the bandwagon of hatred towards the club. The film does have scenes of violence but it paints the time it happens, not now. Its twenty years ago, the kind of thing happens and wasn’t in the media as much before it was blown out of the water by the exposure of it all.

The film follows a young West Ham fan who becomes a friend to the head of the firm, some admiration on his part, makes do pretty much what the head firm guy wants, changing his attire, attending anything he wants, the young kid has a strange connection with him. Mix in scenes with the family giving him stick for it, and throw in some fights and violence and that’s the film. It’s not got a lot of detail to it, but it’s good. I enjoyed it a lot more than other films about the subject. It’s better than Green Street but not as good as Football Factory. But it serves a different audience. More on a comedic level. It’s written and directed by Nick Love, who directed The Business and other such Danny Dyer films, and he pulls away from the pit that could have put him in and made something decent. Other people may disagree with my views on the film, calling it shit and predictable. Sure it has a poor ending, it’s not dramatic enough, but it’s still a good funny film. Plus it’s filed in my local areas, places I’ve walked through and know of. It’s a good reminder of my roots and where i come from. So go check it out, you might enjoy it, you might not, but what am i though? I’m just a Millwall fan who likes to watch films. MIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLWWWWWAAAAALLLLLLL!

Sorry, had to be done!

7/10

Simon Childs