http://www.bexleytimes.co.uk/content/bexley/times/whatson/
08 September 2005
FILMS involving violence and football are nothing new. Last year the subject was explored in depth in Nick Love's Football Factory and in 1995, Reece Dinsdale played an undercover policeman who fell in love with the life of a football hooligan in the drama, I.D.
In this respect, Green Street doesn't offer its audiences anything new, it too features the violence associated with the beautiful game, and like the other two films looks at how the violent world of football hooliganism seduces men and gives them a sense of tribal security.
What sets director Lexi Alexander's film apart from the rest is the fact that its main character is American, showing that football hooliganism can cross cultural divides as long as everyone involved is willing to show their fists.
Elijah Wood plays Matt Buckner, a university student who heads for London after he gets expelled from Harvard. Befriended by a charming, but dangerous man called Pete Dunham (Charlie Hunnam) Matt finds himself drawn into the Green Street Elite (GSE) a hard core group of West Ham supporters who aim to be the most feared and respected football firm in the country.
Not only is Matt drawn to the sheer excitement of the game itself, but he also finds himself seduced by the brotherhood of the GSE. However, his world is set to come crashing down when his dangerous new life threatens to put at risk everything he holds dear.
Green Street opens in cinemas nationwide on Friday, September 9.