Green Street (film)

Green Street (also known as Green Street Hooligans) is a 2005 British-American independent drama film about football hooliganism in the United Kingdom. It was directed by Lexi Alexander and stars Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam. In the film, an American college student falls in with a violent West Ham football firm (the Green Street Elite) run by his brother-in-law's younger brother and is morally transformed by their commitment to each other.

Two sequels followed in the form of direct-to-video releases. The first, Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground, was released on various dates around the world between March 2009 to July 2010. The second, Green Street 3: Never Back Down, was released in the UK on 21 October 2013.

Plot
Journalism major Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) is expelled from Harvard University after cocaine is discovered in his room. Though it belongs to his roommate, Matt is afraid to speak up because his roommate Jeremy comes from a wealthy and powerful family, and is offered $10,000 for taking the blame. Matt accepts the money and uses it to visit his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani), her husband Steve (Marc Warren) and their young son Ben in London. There, Matt meets Steve's brother, Pete (Charlie Hunnam), a teacher and football coach who leads the local football hooligan firm – Green Street Elite (GSE). Steve asks Pete to take Matt to a football match. Though Pete is reluctant to take a "Yank" to a football match, he decides to take Matt to the game, thinking he might "learn something."

Matt meets Pete's friends and his firm in their local pub and they befriend Matt, with the exception of Pete's stubborn right-hand man, Bovver who takes an immediate dislike to Matt. A few pints in and they head to the match. Afterward, Pete, Bovver, and the other firm members go off to fight some Birmingham fans, but Matt decides that it is not for him and heads to the train home. On his way back, Matt is jumped by three Birmingham fans but is rescued by some GSE members. Though grossly outnumbered, the GSE manage to stand their ground until reinforcements chase off the Birmingham firm. Matt does well in his first true fight, is inducted into the GSE, and moves in with Pete.

The GSE firm then head to an away game against Manchester United. Matt ends up sneaking onto the train to help when they are warned that 40 Manchester United firm members are waiting for them at the station. They get off at an earlier stop and persuade a van driver to take them into Manchester, posing as a moving equipment van for a Hugh Grant film. When past them, the GSE charge out to attack the United firm members. They win the fight and leave, taunting the United firm.

Jealous of Matt's rise in the ranks, Bovver talks to Tommy Hatcher (Geoff Bell), the head of GSE's rival firm; the NGO. After one of the members of the GSE sees Matt meeting his father, a journalist for The Times, for lunch, they assume Matt is a "journo" as well. Bovver informs Pete of this, and Steve goes to the Abbey to warn Matt, discovering that Steve is the founder and former leader of the GSE; “The Major", who retired from football hooliganism after witnessing the death of Tommy's 12-year-old son in a fight. Bovver secretly informs Tommy and the Milwall firm of Steve's presence.

Pete angrily confronts Matt in the bathroom over his identity as a "journo" right before the Millwall firm then crash the Abbey and petrol-bomb the bar. On arrival, Tommy confronts Steve and stabs him in the neck with a broken bottle, telling him that if he dies tonight then they are both even. Bovver, who had been knocked unconscious by Tommy's right-hand man upon arriving, helps get Steve to the hospital where Pete slams Bovver for his betrayal. Shannon decides to return to the United States to ensure the safety of her family.

The two firms meet near the Millennium Dome the next day for a final brawl. Matt and Bovver show up to fight for the GSE, but Shannon turns up with Ben and is subsequently attacked in her car by Tommy's right-hand man. Matt and Bovver come to their rescue. Pete notices that Tommy is approaching the car and goads him to "finish him off." When Tommy says the NGO will end it, Pete retorts that Tommy is to blame for his son's death, having failed to protect him. Tommy snaps and tackles Pete to the ground, eventually beating him to death. Everyone on both sides gathers around Pete's dead body in shock.

Matt returns to the United States and confronts the now wealthy and successful Jeremy in a restaurant toilet; with Jeremy admitting to being the cocaine stash's owner. Matt pulls out a tape recorder saying that it's his "ticket back to Harvard." Jeremy lunges at him to get the tape, but Matt fends him off with ease. Matt walks out with a smile down the street outside the restaurant singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".

Cast

 * Elijah Wood as Matthew 'Matt' Buckner, nicknamed "The Yank": a 20-year-old American everyman, studying journalism at Harvard University. His mother has died, and his sister lives in London with her British husband. He does not see his father very often, because he is away working most of the time.
 * Charlie Hunnam as Peter 'Pete' Dunham: a primary school teacher of history and physical education who runs West Ham's firm the Green Street Elite, and is Steve's younger brother.
 * Leo Gregory as Bovver: a member of the GSE and Pete's right-hand man.
 * Claire Forlani as Shannon Dunham (née Buckner): Matt's older sister, married to Steve and mother of Ben.
 * Marc Warren as Steven 'Steve' Dunham, nicknamed “The Major”: a successful businessman and founder of the GSE who led the firm in 1990s before retiring, now living with his wife Shannon and son Ben.
 * Ross McCall as Dave Bjorno: a commercial airline pilot and member of the GSE.
 * Rafe Spall as Swill: a member of the GSE.
 * Kieran Bew as Ike: a member of the GSE
 * Geoff Bell as Tommy Hatcher: leader of Millwall's firm the NGO.
 * James Allison and Oliver Allison as Benjamin “Ben” Dunham: son of Shannon and Steve, and Matt's nephew.
 * Terence Jay as Jeremy Van Holden: a cocaine addict and dealer, son of a senator, currently studying at Harvard University.
 * Joel Beckett as Terry: a retired GSE member who runs the Bridgett Abbey pub on Walsh Road, and Steve's former right-hand man.
 * Henry Goodman as Carl Buckner: a world renowned journalist who is Matt and Shannon's father, Steve's father-in-law and Ben's grandfather.

Cultural context
The name of the firm in the film, the Green Street Elite, refers to Green Street in the London Borough of Newham, where West Ham's old home stadium, Upton Park was located. West Ham is supported by one of Britain's notorious hooligan firms: the Inter City Firm (ICF).

Critical reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews on release. It scored 46% on the film website Rotten Tomatoes and 55% on the website Metacritic. Roger Ebert gave the film a very favourable review, while the BBC described it as "calamitous". E! Online reviewed it as "saddled with a predictable storyline and such feckless dialogue that you can't help but view the whole thing as an exercise in stupidity".

Awards
Green Street won several awards including Best Feature at the LA Femme Film Festival, Best of the Fest at the Malibu Film Festival and the Special Jury Award at the SXSW Film Festival.

The film was nominated for the William Shatner Golden Groundhog Award for Best Underground Movie. Other nominated films were Neil Gaiman's and Dave McKean's MirrorMask, the award-winning baseball documentary Up for Grabs and Opie Gets Laid.

Sequels
Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground was released straight-to-DVD in March 2009. The film does not star most of the main cast of the first film, but rather focuses on Ross McCall, who played Dave in the first film. The plot has Dave, who was caught from the fight at the end of the first film, in a prison where he must fight to survive.

Green Street 3: Never Back Down was released straight-to-DVD in the UK on 21 October 2013, starring Scott Adkins from The Expendables 2. Danny Harvey (Adkins) has spent all of his life fighting - in the playground, on the football pitch, and then heading up the West Ham firm the Green Street Elite (GSE). After having turned his back from violence fourteen years prior, Danny is thrust back into the GSE. Younger brother Joey, played by Billy Cook, is killed in an organised fight against a rival firm and Danny is desperate to seek revenge for his brother's death. Danny returns to the GSE and his past, the only way he knows to find out who killed his younger brother.