robertemerald Review of Hoodies vs. Hooligans

Hoodies vs. Hooligans (2014)

Unusual and chilling, but earnest moral thriller

[7/10 · 27 June 2019]

Anyone remember West Side Story? OK, that's a long way from this one, mostly. West Side Story was a play with songs about gangs. The Guvnors is a play about gangs with violence. Both shows have a sort of native-born code at their heart. That no-one questions that code is the tragedy. The violence is scary real in Guvnors, so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if it's based on actual experience. But it's not driven by violence. It's driven by the psychopathy of the lead villain. The lead villain is a huge contradiction. It's a really wild story. It hovers on the edge of 'truth is stranger than fiction', being plausible but highly improbable. It's not about football violence, but about the aftermath of football violence, years later. It takes on a lot of food for thought, possibly too much. Certainly the film has over-dramatised the lead villain, which was a shame, because he would have been in the running for villain of the decade. This is worth a look if you're into gritty street-level British drama.