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Bookmark this pageThe Firm (2009)
Director: Nick Love
Movie review
From Time Out London
In his most mature film to date, Nick Love – the ‘daddy’ of British geezer movies – repays his debt to what he calls the ‘authentic British working-class filmmaking’ of his hero Alan Clarke. But this affectionate re-imagining strips Clarke’s 1988 football hooligan drama of its fierce political critique, turning it into a sentimental coming-of-age story. A nostalgic period piece set four years earlier, Love’s version is seen not from the point of view of gang leader ‘Bex’ Bissell (Gary Oldman in the original), but from that of wide-eyed wannabe Dom (Calum McNab).On one level, this is an affectionate celebration of floppy-haired, designer tracksuit-wearing football casuals. On another it is a rites-of-passage tale about a young lad who idolises an older, cooler role model, before realising that he’s a bigot. Awash with the soulful funk sounds of René and Angela, The Gap Band and Yarborough and Peoples, this version replaces Clarke’s gimlet-eyed critique of the Thatcherite ‘loadsamoney’ culture with a naive adolescent’s account of his troubled season running with Kool and the Gang.
McNab is sensitive as Dom, while Paul Anderson offers a subtle twist on Oldman’s violent Bex, but Daniel Mays’s portrayal of Bex’s nemesis, Yeti, fails to equal the intensity of Phil Davis’s earlier psycho. Love’s second movie about hooligans marks a quantum leap forward from the messy, senseless violence of ‘The Football Factory’, but, like Dom, he falls short of his mentor’s demanding standards.
Author: Nigel Floyd
Time Out London Issue 2039: 17-23 September, 2009
User reviews of this film
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- Joey F said...
- Posted on Oct 02 2009 20:47 This film is complete pants, was Mr Love around to see and witness anything remote to the shenanigans of what was happening at the time of 'the casual era'? Even the music dos'nt rank, it may have been on the wireless but not on our record players. All these football violence films are the same, RUBBISH!
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- Dan Marfell said...
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Posted on Oct 01 2009 08:37
Well.... Nick Love has made some cracking films (Football Factory & The business) as he always reminds us with every new release and I find his work to be great repetetive, I am a huge fan of Love and even took part as an extra in the box office smash known as "outlaw" yes ok not quite the hopefull success but hey...
I think its time Love changed dirrection slightly as the London Violence scene is starting to wear thin, even for me, I do love the FF & TB, Not so sure of this latest installment to the Love portfolio!
Hoping for a different direction for the next release! - Report as inappropriate
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- megadg said...
- Posted on Sep 25 2009 12:40 not as good as original, acting ok, story tryed to use to much slang which did'nt work to well, dom's mum best actorress in movie, which puts it in place, nearly walked out towards end but had nothing else planned till later
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- Paul said...
- Posted on Sep 25 2009 08:49 A short run and empty cinema at my local last night shows this film is not packing them in apart from a couple of gang o' lads. Fantastic show of fashions, dismal script and directing with insufficient music to compensate. Tainted Love rightly figures as I thought the homosexual undercurrents of lad love and clothes weren't far away. I enjoyed Dom's parents as the stars, particularly Eddie Webber as fat rough diamond Dad. Finished the film thinking that I had just watcheed The Fast Show without the jokes and the violence wasn't violent enough.
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- Matthew George said...
- Posted on Sep 23 2009 13:06 C-Lassic G!
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- Dave Bowling said...
- Posted on Sep 23 2009 12:45 I offered Graham a job in our local Spar shop but he thought he could do better working the holdiay camps as a Ted Bovis impersonator. Smug get.
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- Graham Tuck said...
- Posted on Sep 23 2009 11:16 Shut it, you couple of Tobys, either of you show your boat down the old town, you're in for a right tellin off.
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- Jake said...
- Posted on Sep 23 2009 11:05 Not sure I would pay any attention to this Graham Tuck (review below) he sounds a bit....well....'special'.
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- Matthew George said...
- Posted on Sep 23 2009 11:01 Not seen the film myself, but I do know that Graham Tuck (see review below) often talks absolute nonsense and his critique should be completely ignored.
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- Graham Tuck said...
- Posted on Sep 23 2009 10:53 Extremely disappointing outing again from Nick Love, with the glimmer originality shown in the business, hand fistedly over done here. Lacking any social or political backdrop, Love’s right of passage tale is a mismatch of stolen scenes from the original, and what appears to be the same fight scene repeated several times. His only original contribution to the script is a father son ‘Joey’ joke, and a dialogue of meaningless rhyming slang, which I am sure nobody ever actually spoke in. On the plus side, the film features possibly the only estate agent located in an indoor shopping centre.
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- sally said...
- Posted on Sep 18 2009 13:45 hey i watched it last nite hehe and it is a cracking remake it is not the same as the 1983 version its from a different angle!! is very good and great soundtrack! and lush fila whoop whoop.i see some very good fight sceens and very good up and coming actors well done nick love...ohhh n b4 u say you couldnt watch it last nite i did!!! a friend of mine went to the fila launch and already has it xx
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- Peter K said...
- Posted on Sep 17 2009 19:19 I'll second that
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- Nick Rose said...
- Posted on Sep 15 2009 18:19 Of all the films to remake! Having seen a preview this only highlights the shallowness of Nick Love as a filmmaker. Bright track suits and paying for lots of good music don't in themselves make a good film.
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Cast & crew
Director: Nick Love
Cast: Daniel Mays, Camille Coduri, Calum McNab, Paul Anderson
Genre(s): Thrillers
Rated: 18
Duration: 90 mins
UK Release: Sep 18 2009
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