Mean Machine
Time Out says
This remake of the ballsy Robert Aldrich/Burt Reynolds prison drama The Longest Yard (released in Britain as The Mean Machine) substitutes soccer for American football, but otherwise retains the basic set-up: a disgraced sports star is incarcerated and compelled to lead his fellow inmates in a match against the warders for the entertainment of the governor. The Aldrich yarn was a hell of a movie: amid the crunching violence the director of The Dirty Dozen and Kiss Me Deadly mounted a characteristically no holds barred assault on authoritarianism and petty fascism. The remake is a joke. Fortunately director Skolnick has cottoned on that he was on a hiding to nothing, and after the dire first half hour, he essentially plays it for laughs. Vinnie Jones turns in a very decent performance (easily his most confident to date) as former England skipper Danny Meeham, a national villain after throwing a game. His rehabilitation comes reluctantly, finding some pride as he coaches a bunch of no-hopers for the game of their lives. The supporting cast give it a go too.Author: TCh
Release details
UK release:
2001
Duration:
99 mins
Cast and crew
Director:
Cast:
Ralph Brown, Vas Blackwood, Robbie Gee, Geoff Bell, John Forgeham, Sally Phillips, Jason Flemyng, Danny Dyer, Jason Statham, Jake Abraham, David Hemmings, David Kelly, Vinnie Jones, Omid Djalili
Producer:
Screenwriter:
Charlie Fletcher, Chris Baker, Andrew Day
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