This is a movie that is trying to be a gangster movie, same as "Snatch" or "Lock Stock and two smoking barrels".This movie failed on all accounts. Casting: Failure, especially for the lead. Script: Failure, boring, clichéd drivel.Directing: The movie was very badly directed and it was not even fit for a background noise. The gore and violence was very badly done. Story-line: Non existent. It was very hard to watch the movie and the story-line was boring, clichéd and narration was just as boring, which was accompanied with flashes of violence, which did not contribute to the story at all. If anything, those fist fights were poorly made and timed too. I am all for violent gangster movies and all. But it has to be part of the story and well made. In this movie it was just there for no good reason and it made the movie even more boring as it already was.

The life-story (so far) of infamous West Ham United football hooligan, Carlton Leech. Starting in the 1970s, young Carlton joins the ICF hooligan gang and as the years pass into the early 1980s becomes a leading figure in the organised mob of East London thugs – taking on football gangs from around London and across the country, making a name for himself as a fearless street-fighter and gang-leader. Working as night club bouncer in some of East London's roughest venues, Carlton has the foresight and skills to organise security firms as the Acid House and Rave era dawns over the UK – and in the process, whilst his marriage suffers, he makes more contacts and a lot of money. Controlling the drug traffic through the doors of the venues, with a small army of ex-hooligans turned bouncers, the error of a couple of his men land him and his organisation in a war with the London Turkish Mafia. Coming through the other side, littered with casualties, Carlton enters the 1990s with over a decade of blood on his hands, a wealth of underworld experience – and a reputation to be feared and respected. But the 1990s bring a new era of Essex based criminals and new way of doing things.Partnering up with Tony Tucker, an Essex playboy gangster, Carlton finds himself amongst the wild, brash criminal circles of the richer suburban towns outside London and on the edge of one of the most shadowy and suspicious criminal conspiracies of modern British gangland lore – the Range Rover Murders."Rise of the Footsoldier" is a fantastic Brit gangland film which achieves not only in telling the story of the connection between football hooliganism and organised crime, but does so with both speed and detail. The early sequences of mass hooligan fights through the 70s and 80s is nothing short of brilliant and is by far the best portrayal of any films in the genre. The Acid House and rave era is depicted with style and energy, whilst remaining faithful to telling Carlton's story, and we never lose sight of the journey he makes as a character – and as Carlton and his boys move into paid-for-violence debt collecting and eventually into gang war against the Turkish group, again the pacing, deft direction of the action and the drama of Carlton's life are perfectly balanced, making the film not only one that is gripping but also a fully engaging experience, which any movie lover will appreciate. The only issue with the film is that the final chapter, the 'Essex boys' part of his story, feels detached from the rest of the film. It is essentially Act 4. Carlton is reduced to a minor player and so the final part of the film focuses on three new characters backed-up by three new supporting characters – it is their story, of which Carlton makes only fleeting appearances. That said, this aspect will not bother some viewers in the slightest and "Rise of the Footsoldier" remains an excellent film which must be watched.

While perhaps not quite up there with The Long Good Friday (Will any British Gangster film ever be?) ROTF is well made biopic of one man's story from his time on the football terraces of the late 1970's with West Ham's notorious ICF to the world of the door security, slowly rising to become a small but influential figure in London and Essex Criminal Underworld. While this journey to ascension might not be as regal as that of a New York Crime boss, let us not forget this is England and such small but influential figures do exist. Carlton Leach (Played by Ricci Hartnett) was a well-connected man, if you wanted something, he could get it for you or he knew someone who could. The film charts his life over three decades against the backdrop of his criminal activities and the people he came into contact with, who eventually included the named Essex Boys who would be made famous infamous in the so called 'Range Rover Murders'.I regretted not seeing this film on the big screen upon its release. The broadsheets are rarely kind to independent British Films, but they were especially harsh in their reviews of this one which is poor judgement on their part. Critical of the amount of swearing and depictions of violence seemed to bullet points upon which their poor marks were based, yet American depictions of a similar way of life such as Goodfellas, have just the same amount of both and are hailed a work of genius and while Rise doesn't quite have the same talents involved on the acting plaudits, what it does have is a sense of scale. The story feels epic, you get a sense and feel for the different times in which the film is set from the violent terraces of the 70's to the coming of the Ecstasy fulled era of the late 80's leading to the results of living on the edge for too long in the 90's. The high ranking critics of the film world may well not relate to these eras on that level, which is hardly surprising as they were unlikely to be part of such circles, but the Gibley brothers have proved that on a fraction of the budget they can come up with an engrossing tale that depicts a big story taking place over many years. Though the film is Carlton's story, the last third of it is very much given over to the Essex Range Rover killings and his friendship with Tony Tucker (Played by newcomer Terry Stone) though this connection may seem tenuous, it serves as a benchmark for change to both his own life and what was happening in the criminal fraternity at the time. One of the nice things about this depiction of events is it accepts that the final version that you do see, may not indeed be the correct one as other probable theories are shown screen. The film has several supporting cast that ably fill their roles including the familiar faces of Billy Murray, Craig Fairbrass, Roland Nanookin (Very underrated actor whose range far exceeds the roles he gets offered) and some new up and coming faces pop up here too who often outclass others in their scenes including Danny Midwinter, Ian Virgo and Jason Maza. The film isn't perfect, a couple of scenes seem a little long and could have been cut without losing any impact and the one or two weaker performers do tend to stand out, proving as always, casting is king, but I found they were minor distractions in a really solid piece of film making. It is regrettable that this film was so easily dismissed as just another British Gangster flick upon its release, as it offers so much more than that and has since (rightly) gained a huge following on DVD. Of the four films that covers the subject of the Ranger Rover murders (I still have yet to see the latest offering) this has thus far proved the strongest and the most interesting, charting as it does the lives of the characters that live in a world that certainly many will not relate to, but will be familiar to those that have been there. While Ricci Hartnett might not quite have captured the real Carlton Leach's razor sharp humor, he adequately fills the role as someone who can only watch as people he cares about spiral into a world where the control he thought he had is proved to be all but frugal. For anyone who wants a real perspective on what the British underworld is all about – the small deals that can go wrong, the back stabbing and the alliances that can be easily broken, as we are shown the roots that someone had that lead them there – this is a truthful, violent and gritty depiction of that world and one that is worthy of your viewing time if you haven't seen it yet.

Gritty, well-acted, intelligently put together, generally authentic looking and the violence is horrible but that's what's needed to show the viewer just how unpleasant people like this and the violence they mete out is.It's the Hollywood type sanitised violence that should be criticised - one thing this film does is show how unglamourous violent crime is. Problem is a lot of the poor marks given to this film by both the critics and the public are because such people live cosy little middle class lives where luckily for them they've remained firmly insulated from the nasty world portrayed in this film and like to think it doesn't exist.