Mean Machine

Conceding I just don’t care much for this scenario whether it’s told in the 1970s or 2000s, or set in the U.S. or Britain - this does seem to find its feet a little better than its American cousins, but that may reflect a personal bias towards the array of fine British character actors on display; fine gravitas from Hemmings and Brown is matched by a typically lovely and winsome performance from Kelly, all the better to try and offset some harsh cruelty in the violence and the plotting (that nasty, sudden removal of one of the main characters plays no better here than in the U.S. versions). It all leads to the final football match that seems to have no feel or instinct for the choreography of the game, and leaves the film on an uncertain, low-key note.