Not so pretty bubbles in the air

Movie: Green Street Hooligans. Good on Elijah Wood for breaking out of what could easily have been a career death as a hobbit typecast. His roles in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Everything is Illuminated have proved he’s more than Frodo and his character portrayal in this film only secures that fact. Reminiscent of Quadrophenia, but with soccer/football fans as the gangs, what seems like pointless, overdone violence creates a gritty and barbaric atmosphere of testosterone gone berserk. I can’t condone the extreme violence, but I did understand the message of there being a time to stand up for yourself and a time to walk away. The final scenes, especially, should have anyone going “Yes!” Though many of the characters lacked depth, and the subplot was flawed and weak as water, and the gangs didn’t actually seem to care a hoot about the sports teams, the other message of needing to belong to a group shone through at the end too, when Elijah returned to New York. Well done, but cringe-worthily brutal in many places.