Rise of the Footsoldier (2007)

Rise of the Footsoldier follows the inexorable rise of Carlton Leach from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who ... See full summary »

Director:

Julian Gilbey

Writers:

Julian Gilbey, Will Gilbey

Stars:

Ricci Harnett, Terry Stone, Craig Fairbrass

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ricci Harnett	...	Carlton Leach
Terry Stone	...	Tony Tucker
Craig Fairbrass	...	Pat Tate
Roland Manookian	...	Craig Rolfe
Coralie Rose	...	Denny
Neil Maskell	...	Darren Nicholls
Billy Murray	...	Mickey Steele
Ian Virgo	...	Jimmy Gerenuk
Kierston Wareing	...	Kate Carter
Patrick Regis	...	Eddie
Lara Belmont	...	Karen
Emily Beecham	...	Kelly
Frank Harper	...	Jack Whomes
Jason Maza	...	Rob
Mark Killeen	...	Terry

Storyline

Rise of the Footsoldier follows the inexorable rise of Carlton Leach from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late eighties and early nineties. It is three decades of his life following him from football hooliganism, through to his burgeoning career as a bouncer, his involvement in the criminal aspects of the early 'rave' scene and subsequently to his rise to power as one of the most feared and respected criminals in the country.

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Plot Keywords:

criminal | police | soccer | beating | gangland style murder | 

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody/brutal violence, torture and language throughout, drug use, sexuality, and some graphic nudity

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 December 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Futballmaffia

Filming Locations:

Calais, Pas-de-Calais, France

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£85,903 (UK) (7 September 2007)

Gross:

£85,903 (UK) (7 September 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carnaby International, Hanover Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the rave scene, set in 1988 (again), you can spot someone wearing a 2007 season Gio-Goi T-shirt in the crowd.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Carlton Leach: It was the end of an era. But before the murders, the torture, the beatings and the ecstacy... before all of that, there was football. You see, football was where all the spite and the hatred first came from. On those terraces... well, it's where it all began for me.

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Reckoning Day (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Cherry Red"
Performed by The Groundhogs
Written by Tony McPhee
EMI Music publishing Ltd
Licensed by courtesy of EMI Records Ltd

User Reviews

Mug

Are Nick Love's movies too fackin' cerebral for ya? Then get straight dahn Blockbuster and get yourself some of this. And I ain't even avvin' a bubble, ya mug.

This film is allegedly based on the same true events that inspired the surprisingly respectable and proficient Sean Bean gangster flick Essex Boys, but such information suggests that this is going to have some kind of tenuous link to the real world. Not so. This is a loathsome, plot less and titanically mean-spirited cartoon that is so offensive and so depressing that it calls to mind nothing less than Meir Zarchi's evergreen vulgarity barometer I Spit On Your Grave.

Overlong and aimless, the flick just ambles briskly along, taking frequent pause to go off on random, inconsequential tangents, all of which culminate in either gratuitous sex or gratuitous violence, occasionally played for repugnant laughs that'll have most audiences continuously scraping their jaws off the floor.

It is completely impossible to overstate just how grotesquely pornographic the violence is, even when compared to the other specimens from this illustrious cinematic sub-genre. People are endlessly having their faces smashed in with bricks, their heads bludgeoned with metal poles, their backsides penetrated with blunt knives, often in glorious slow-motion, and even more often perpetrated by our lovably roguish hero. In 'is world, you gotta 'it em ard innit? Or else they don't respect ya, yeah?

Other highlights include... Our "hero" forming an impromptu posse of about ten strangers on a subway train, who take on (and end up beating into retreat) a tribe of around two hundred machete-wielding maniacs; our "hero" romancing, marrying and fathering the children of two posh, angelic and smitten beauties a few months apart; and our "hero" being accosted by a random blonde who nonchalantly begs for permission to fellate him.

And as if the swelling, disease-of-the-week string syrup on the soundtrack wasn't bad enough, the flick even has the audacity to go all Rashomon on us in the third act, pretentiously recounting a plot event repeatedly for no reason other than to garishly bask in the glory of another dozen senseless killings. And who the hell cares anyway? All that plot stuff just gets in the way of the gore. But fear not; after a couple of very brief minutes featuring three men swearing at each other in a Range Rover, the plasma is right back to flying around like jism in an apocalyptic gusher gangbang.

So, in short, its just like all those other recent British hooligan movies, only worse; it is manifestly the unbridled, most peerlessly idiotic, most misogynistic masturbation delusion of the thickest teenage fantasist in all of fackin' England.

Oh, and the actors are all so universally unconvincing that they make Elijah Wood in Green Street look like Lenny McLean.

Trust me. You need this movie like you need a brick-shaped dent in your bonce.