The Firm

Its not Gary Oldman, its not got the same menace as the TV play...but clothes, attitude, music, is more how I remember the period...deerstalkers, stanleys, and farah slacks, Oldman's original crew looked nothing like casuals, regardless of how well it was acted...for that this version gets 6/10 though the TV play is still far superior as a film.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

A re-make of the 1988 TV play with Paul Anderson taking over Gary Oldman's original role as Bex, the property agent whose buzz in life is being the head boy of The West Ham Firm. Young upstart Dom (Calum McNab) and his friend try to challenge his authority in a nightclub, but are soon put on the spot and made to issue a grovelling apology. But Bex takes a shine to Dom and invites him to join his army...but as events go on, it becomes more and more clear how Bex's drive for his 'buzz' has pushed him over the edge.

I'd been expecting an adaptation of The Sweeney to be Nick Love's next filmic venture, but instead this re-make of Alan Clarke's original TV film has arrived. It's still set in the 80s but nostalgia for that era is the main decent thing you take away from this film.

There's no drive to this version of The Firm, no 'oompth' or real wow factor. It may be that the 'football hooligan' movie has been done to death and everything's a bit too predictable, but the tracksuits the main characters wear are the most colourful thing about the film. It's like a joyless version of The Football Factory, with nowhere near as much energy or real raw power to it. The clashes between the rival firms, separated as best as they can by the police on patrol, have a realistic air of disorder and lack of control to them but there's no really juicy bust ups to any of it. The film sort of just ambles along with no real narrative flow or direction, and with a distinct lack of fun or excitement to the proceedings.

Performances wise, rising star Daniel Mays feels wasted as Bex's sworn enemy Yeti, whilst as the man himself Anderson gives no real power to the role. He must have known he'd have to pull off a miracle to deliver anything even close to Oldman's raw intensity, but even if you don't expect too much you feel short changed.

The one thing it can boast is a reliably decent 80s soundtrack. But you get the feeling Love might be starting to take himself a bit too seriously and could end up alienating the fan boys who first got him noticed. **

The film offers a glimpse into the world of hooligans, a world I personally can't comprehend. Why someone would find enjoyment in beating up rival fan groups remains a mystery to me, and unfortunately, the film doesn't provide any answers. Still, it's well-crafted and keeps the viewer engaged with its tight narrative structure.

Despite the plot being entirely predictable and simple, the film manages to maintain suspense throughout its 1 hour and 30-minute runtime. There are no dull moments or instances where the pace falters. The film succeeds in delivering a gritty portrayal of its world, even if it doesn't delve deeply into the motivations behind it. For this solid entertainment, I give the film 6/10.

So far, the film is a bit clichéd and over the top but there is a good deal of warmth and humour love brings to the film. Though I have not seen the original, nick love efforts should not go unnoticed as a director.

Like a lot of people, when I first heard the news that Nick Love was "updating" the original version of The Firm I anticipated the worst. My objection lay not so much in the fact it was a remake of a classic film, but more as to why we needed yet another film centering on football hooliganism.

The argument that such material merely glamorizes the violence it depicts, (appealing as it does to a section of youth that also worship the fashion and lingo of the genre) is without question. The worst example of which (and still prominent in most bargain bins of HMV up and down the land) would be the truly execrable "Green Street". A film so inept in its plotting, acting and overall plausibility that you'd be forgiven for thinking the whole thing had been stitched together by a gang of football thugs themselves.

Contrary to what director Lexi Alexander may think, this was a film that at every opportunity served to heighten the voyeuristic delight of its male, teenage demographic. Self conscious fight sequences shot through with booming dance interludes, whilst a preoccupation with all things bloody gave way to an orgiastic ending which was more like a scene from Braveheart than a realistic portrayal of football mob violence.

Which brings us back to Love and The Firm. What immediately strikes here, as it does in "Goodnight Charlie Bright", and "The Football Factory" is the skill and accuracy with which Love conveys his subject matter.

The film is also a far warmer and optimistic piece than anything Love has made so far. Central character "Dominic" shares an all too believable rapport with his father, forever wrangling money from him, whilst both parents playfully tease him throughout the film - trying their best not to cramp his style when a friend catches Dom at his local sports store.

It is this held focus on the family, combined with the way in which Dominic is positioned when the violence first unfolds (felled by a single punch and then little more than a terrified witness for the remainder of the film)that make for a clear mission statement on the behalf of the director.

The scenes of violence here must also be commended for their reserve and authenticity. Thanks to Love's impeccable eye for the 1980s, the sense of watching a documentary on football violence runs close at times, with the camera skittering about to capture snatches of fight that never quite take off as quite accurately, the police intervene - with their standard uniform and makeshift formation, capturing them in flux before the later arrival of CCTV and full riot gear.

This lends real tension to these scenes. Yet Love has no agenda here other than to show how quickly such altercations are broken up and how they often amount to little more than benign screaming matches. Even the more "laddish" Football Factory tended not to dwell on the full scale chaos between its football gangs and Love has clearly kept this in mind with The Firm.

It must be said however, that the film hardly breaks new territory. (within what is already a very limited genre) Though there is no question that the look and feel of the era has been captured brilliantly and that as top boy "Bex" Paul Anderson is suitably charged, with its rather obvious ending - an eye for an eye simply meaning someone will end up losing their head, it is at least a refreshing twist to see Love's championing of the values of friends and family over the raging poison of the hooligans themselves.