Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

An orphaned Jamaican baby, adopted by an elderly white couple and brought up in an all white area of London, became one of the most feared and respected men in Britain.Cass grew up in a time before political correctness and was forced to endure racist bullying on a daily basis, until one day when the years of pent up anger came out in a violent burst. Cass found through violence the respect he never had and became addicted to the buzz of fighting. His way of life finally caught up with him when an attempted assassination on his life, saw him shot three times at point blank range...After a string of dismal football hooligan movies and dodgy sequels, and the majority of Nick Love films and the fact that Tamar Hassan is in it, you'd be forgiven for giving this a wide birth.but this isn't just another football film, this is about a man who wanted prejudice to be about who he supported, not the colour of his skin.It's a very gritty made film, with not a lot of violence, and it feels like it's the eighties, not looking like the eighties, if you know what i mean.All of the cast are very good (even Hassan), and although some of the settings are reminiscent of the original 'The Firm', this still stands head and shoulders above films like Green Street, Football Factory and ID.Not for everybody's taste, but a very heartfelt story, and proof that people could stand up in Maggies Millions

Way more than just a football thuggery story, as our protagonist has to weave his way from being an orphaned Black kid (Nonso Anozie) raised by White foster parents in a predominantly White London east end neighborhood to being a self-respected man with a job, family and peace of mind. Along this most circuitous route, he encounters racism by both Whites and Blacks: by Whites because of his color and by Blacks because of his cockneyed "White" sounding speech patterns and by his reluctance to "go Black" to his so-called African/Jamaican roots. He is quite content to merely be himself and is fully comfortable with his Caucasian foster parents who brought him up with love and attention. He cares far more about his family and his mates than for some artificial and ephemeral political/racial cause. The jail cell scene with the back and forth dialogue between Cass and his "Rasta-ish" cell-mate bears this point out. But his issues with the aforementioned football thuggery with its concomitant need for constant revenge through violence is keeping him from the realization of his true inner self, the real man he wants to be. The thrust of this film deals with how, over long periods of time, he must manage to extricate those inner demons in order to achieve any sort of lasting peace. And a superlative job indeed is done to portray this metamorphosis by Jon Baird & co., especially the lead role by Nonso. No fancy existential/psychological drama in this hard-hitting, straight-forward piece: just a man in search of himself with the hopes of finding some semblance of a peaceful, fulfilling existence.

i 100% disagree withe davideo-2 about this feature. the only thing that lets this film down is the over use of a black screen fade out between scenes and the apparent low budget. The use of the news reel footage of what was happening at the time adds nothing but realism to the situations that were happening at the time. Any attempt to try and reenact scenes such as the heisel disaster would have looked cheap and insulted the memory of those who lost lives and loved ones on that tragic day. Yes the editing could have been better but for what essentially is a low budget film by a fairly inexperienced director it is an entertaining viewpoint into the life of one of Britain's most famous football casuals. The acting was brilliant all round and most of the fight scenes well choreographed even if they did lack the gore of rise of the foot soldier (a brilliant film about the life of Carlton leech) or the high budget effects of greenstreet (a Hollywood let down in the football violence genre) yes this is no ID or The Firm but it is a good honest insight into what went on and IS based on real events unlike the aforementioned 2 films

Depth of story. Much more than a hooligan film. Many funny and ironic moments also. This will be enjoyed by football lads as well as general cinema goers. Looks like it could be a cult movie. I will definitely be buying the DVD. Good character development throughout the film. Most of the acting very convincing. Also attention to detail in the 60's and 70's scenes looked very authentic. Some hard scenes but overall good fun. Cameo appearances from some interesting sportsmen! Also touches on race issues of past decades. I never realised film was over 90 minutes until I left the cinema. All in all very enjoyable and I would recommend it!