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.

In American gangster movies the protagonist finds himself pursuing the American dream via the American existentialist capitalist nightmare . By this I mean he finds a violent purpose in a meaningless uncaring world , a purpose that usually leads to his destruction either literally or metaphorically . Brtish cinema doesn't have a long tradition of this type of movie and perhaps the closest we have in this country is the football hooligan film . Mindful of this director Julian Gilbey has made a film trying to bridge the gap between the two Is he successful ? Yes and no . Yes to the fact that he's made a dark violent thriller but no judging by the amount of comments along the lines of " I watched this movie thinking it was a biopic on Carlton Leach only to find he disappears halfway through " What the film is not is a biopic but if proof is ever needed that crime does not pay then an audience could do a lot worse than watch RISE OF THE FOOT SOLDIER It's certainly memorable but I mean this in a dubious way . It's certainly not pleasant and Gilbey concentrates on the gore and violence . Perhaps too much so as he introduces conspiracy theories as to why three violent gangsters are executed gangland style . Why does he do this ? Simply to show three criminals get blasted to death in the most graphic way possible . You can't get enough of seeing a naughty boy get shot in the face with a shotgun ? Good because you'll be able to see it happen at least three times from different angles . Gilbey is trying to emulate Scorsese though he's not entirely successful . That said one had hoped he'd be more prolific . After all who wants to watch British art house or period dramas all day ?

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.

Having had more than a few mates suggest i check Rise of the Footsoldier out, i eventually got round to it last night. Undoubtedly the story Colton Leach has to tell (and did so in his autobiography) is a compelling tale of one mans ascent from Terrace boot boy to connected underworld villain. This film sadly compromised in quality by miscasts, appalling accents and woeful acting.Ricci Harnett in the lead role of Leach does a reasonable job of conveying the transition from thuggery to serious criminal but his accent is all over the place. As his voice provides the stories narration it is something that after ten minutes was driving me nuts. Terry Stone as Tony Tucker provided the unintentional comedy with an ill fitting wig (or the worst Barnett going)dialogue that was so expletive riddled it bordered on juvenile and an over the top vehemence in line delivery reducing Tucker to parody.What troubled me most about this film was that the events leading up to the shooting in Rettenden, Essex and the formative years of Leach are of genuine interest to crime fans and fans of football hooliganism so, to have this story sabotaged by a lack of credible accents and acting left me feeling an opportunity had been missed. Roland Manookian and Frank Harper provide the films only source of authenticity. On the positive side some of the films pacing and construct flowed well and kept the attention. The violence was well choreographed and aside from an over reliance on projectile red syrup for blood spatterings was on the whole realistic. If you enjoyed the film then it is worth checking out Essex Boys telling a similar tale from fictionalised viewpoint and also featuring Billy Murray.