Hooligans

This is the best football film I have ever seen, yet strangely enough not a single football match is shown. Instead, it deals with the violence off the pitch.

The story is about four police officers who go undercover to find out who is the ringleader of a group of violent thugs at a fictitious East London football team, Shadwell FC (possibly but not necessarily based on Millwall FC, a real East London team with its own share of crowd trouble). This violent drama shows how easy it is to get drawn into the whole scene, to the extent that the policemen find their mission and dedication to justice is slowly being taken over by their newly found love of Shadwell.

It is a superb character study, well acted by Reece Dinsdale and Sean Pertwee, among others, although it is Warren Clarke who really steals the show with a superb performance as the ringleader.

Non-football fans will enjoy this film as well, possibly because of the lack of any football action. It is, for example, one of my wife's favorite films, although her interest in football per se is fairly insubstantial. However, if extreme violence or 'foul' language offends you, avoid this film.

As an Eastender, I have to say this film is one of the most accurate portrayals of football violence in the area. It is also a far better 'film about football' than other recent attempts such as WHEN SATURDAY COMES or FEVER PITCH. Although it has been out on video now for over three years at the time of writing this, it is still today one of the hardest videos to get out of the video-club in the East End, as it is almost always on loan.

Enjoy! I know you will.

John (Reece Dinsdale)is a smug copper who along with a colleague is assigned to go undercover to delve into the violent world of the football hooligan in 1980's East London. John becomes more and more obsessed and embroiled in this world until it becomes a part of him, which is certain to lead to trouble.

This is an extremely well made and engrossing film with top notch acting and some highly convincing characters. Reece Dinsdale, Sean Pertwee and Warren Clarke ,the pub landlord Bob, are excellent and ensure that this film is a success. We are presented with restless, dissatisfied angrey working class males whose way of letting out frustration is through football violence against enemy firms.

I have seen this many times over the years and it is a film I often come back to as it always guarantees excellent entertainment, a good story, great acting and characters. Definitely watch it

i.d. is directed by Philip Davis and written by Vincent O'Connell. It stars Reece Dinsdale, Warren Clarke, Claire Skinner, Richard Graham, Perry Fewick, Philip Glenister, Saskia Reeves and Sean Pertwee. Music is by Will Gregory and cinematography by Thomas Mauch.

Four policemen go undercover and infiltrate a gang of football hooligans who follow Shadwell Town. There mission is to root out their leaders, the ones pulling all the strings. But for one of them, John (Dinsdale), the longer the operation goes on, the more he finds he loves this world of hard drinking and fighting.

It became something of a cult hit back in the 90s, at a time when football hooligan films were still rare. Nowadays they are two a penny, with a ream of wide boy directors mining the source for easy cash while turning the topic into pop culture matter of fact. i.d. (it is spelt that way on the film) is a different animal to the MTV styled other hoolie movies in a lot of ways, it is set in the 80s but it feels archaic, in fact it feels much earlier with its clothing choices, fans decked out in scarves, admission fees into grounds only £3.50/£4.00 and the way supporters are caged on the terraces. Even the terrace songs hark back to the 70s. This old time feel, coupled with the low production value, is a world away from the likes of The Football Factory and Green Street, where dress codes were as important as toughness! i.d. does have realism, but it's a realism long before football hooliganism became a source of books, films and trendy badge of honours.

Davis' film is more concerned with showing how the thrill of it all can drag down the most upstanding citizen. In this case Dinsdale's (terrific and a splendid shift from sit-com niceties) young ambitious copper. His descent into being a full blown hooligan is very real, the addiction of the fight, the camaraderie of the gang, the wine women and song that replaces the humdrum of everyday working life. It doesn't offer up any answers, in fact things are deliberately left ambiguous in the end, but the message is sharply etched into the story and the pic is high on social value. It should have been bolder by making more on racism of the time and expanding upon police overkill at football matches, but it never glorifies the topic to hand and backed by a very watchable cast, rounds out as football hooligan film of some substance and standing in the genre pantheon. 8/10

I used to work in a video store in the olden days, and this movie was a little known gem that I recommended to customers.

Everything clicks in this movie. The story and characters are great. Having had friends who were into football hooliganism, in my experience everything in this movie feels very realistic.

The cast is good all the way through, especially Reece Dinsdale in the lead who delivers a real powerhouse performance. It's strange, I thought this movie might do to him what Romper Stomper did to Russell Crowe, but I can't remember seeing him in anything but this movie.

Don't bother with the sequel which has absolutely nothing to do with this movie.

While brutal in its portrayals this film is an effective comment on the capacity of the average man in the street for violence.

The main members of the cast are Undercover Police, so clearly know the difference between right and wrong. However, they get so caught up in the thrill of the fight they find themselves unable to control their actions. One of them is so carried away he prefers his new life.

This film is a tricky one to watch, due to the closeness to home of the subject matter. Brutal and unmotivated violence is graphically, and very effectively, depicted, and takes place in everyday locations; the pub, the street, the football terrace.

Avoid this if you are sensitive about screen violence. However, while uncomfortable viewing, this film does ultimately reward, with full hearted performances and more than one or two difficult questions left in your mind. 8/10.