Vinnie Jones plays Danny Meehan, a retired footballer who disgraced his country by cheating an England v Germany football match to win a bet. The movie begins after his retirement with him speeding around town in his sports car, drinking from a bottle of Vodka, being chased by Police. He then proceeds to beat up the Police Officers and needless to say, he gets arrested and sentenced to 3 years behind bars.
In prison he swiftly brought back to reality and reminded that behind bars, he isn't a footballer and the prisoners and guards haven't forgotten what he did in that England v Germany game. Danny Meehan is then ordered to captain the prisoners in a one off football match against the guards.
The best thing about Mean Machine is the cast, if you have watched other British Films around this time you will recognise so many of the supporting actors from films such as Snatch, Lock Stock, Football Factory. Not to mention, Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham, Danny Dyer, David Kelly & David Hemmings! The cast is fantastic but the characters are even better, it has a great mix of different people, serious one, funny ones, stupid ones & of course the prison nutter(i.e. the Monk!).
The Story is of course predictable, it has many cliché moments & it certainly doesn't offer anything new. But it is entertaining! The first half of the movie has quite a serious feel to it, it moves along very fast & doesn't offer much character development. I didn't really feel like I connected with any of the characters , which is a shame as they were so many unique characters involved! The second half of the story, when they start to train for the football match & the coverage of the football match itself is much more light hearted and funny, there are many laugh out loud moments. The coverage of the football match is absolutely fantastic, the best part of the movie by far. Bob & Bob as the commentators are hilarious; football commentators could take a note out of their book! The way the match is filmed is also perfect, a lot of sports films are let down by the camera angles & the speed of the action but in Mean Machine I feel the director got it spot on. You could really see what was happening and I think this was made easier by Bob & Bob! Overall Mean Machine is an entertaining movie but far from perfect in my eyes. I have seen the Adam Sandler – Longest Yard before seeing this and I think that spoiled it for me, it is basically the same story and I had no surprises whilst watching this. The Second half outshines the first by quite a way in my opinion. I feel like they could have offered more in the first half of the movie, Character development, more tension, make you feel for the characters more. As I said before, the football match was brilliant and hilarious and saved this movie for me. This is certainly worth a watch and is entertaining enough to pass the time.
7/10
In prison he swiftly brought back to reality and reminded that behind bars, he isn't a footballer and the prisoners and guards haven't forgotten what he did in that England v Germany game. Danny Meehan is then ordered to captain the prisoners in a one off football match against the guards.
The best thing about Mean Machine is the cast, if you have watched other British Films around this time you will recognise so many of the supporting actors from films such as Snatch, Lock Stock, Football Factory. Not to mention, Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham, Danny Dyer, David Kelly & David Hemmings! The cast is fantastic but the characters are even better, it has a great mix of different people, serious one, funny ones, stupid ones & of course the prison nutter(i.e. the Monk!).
The Story is of course predictable, it has many cliché moments & it certainly doesn't offer anything new. But it is entertaining! The first half of the movie has quite a serious feel to it, it moves along very fast & doesn't offer much character development. I didn't really feel like I connected with any of the characters , which is a shame as they were so many unique characters involved! The second half of the story, when they start to train for the football match & the coverage of the football match itself is much more light hearted and funny, there are many laugh out loud moments. The coverage of the football match is absolutely fantastic, the best part of the movie by far. Bob & Bob as the commentators are hilarious; football commentators could take a note out of their book! The way the match is filmed is also perfect, a lot of sports films are let down by the camera angles & the speed of the action but in Mean Machine I feel the director got it spot on. You could really see what was happening and I think this was made easier by Bob & Bob! Overall Mean Machine is an entertaining movie but far from perfect in my eyes. I have seen the Adam Sandler – Longest Yard before seeing this and I think that spoiled it for me, it is basically the same story and I had no surprises whilst watching this. The Second half outshines the first by quite a way in my opinion. I feel like they could have offered more in the first half of the movie, Character development, more tension, make you feel for the characters more. As I said before, the football match was brilliant and hilarious and saved this movie for me. This is certainly worth a watch and is entertaining enough to pass the time.
7/10