Part based on Carlton Leach’s autobiography, the third instalment of this Essex and Spain-set crime thriller is tediously violent but has a decent soundtrack
Related: Mad fer it: Shaun Ryder has found his true calling – as a bargain-bin movie gangster
This Essex- and Spain-set, semi-fact-based crime thriller is part of a three-part mini-franchise, which started out as an adaptation of football hooligan/underworld figure Carlton Leach’s autobiography, although Leach isn’t relevant here. Instead, this focuses squarely on the unpleasant gang of drug dealers and thugs led by the eponymous Pat Tate who rose to prominence in the late 80s-early 90s and ended up (spoiler alert) very directly involved in the infamous Rettendon Range Rover murders of 1995.
Related: Mad fer it: Shaun Ryder has found his true calling – as a bargain-bin movie gangster
This Essex- and Spain-set, semi-fact-based crime thriller is part of a three-part mini-franchise, which started out as an adaptation of football hooligan/underworld figure Carlton Leach’s autobiography, although Leach isn’t relevant here. Instead, this focuses squarely on the unpleasant gang of drug dealers and thugs led by the eponymous Pat Tate who rose to prominence in the late 80s-early 90s and ended up (spoiler alert) very directly involved in the infamous Rettendon Range Rover murders of 1995.
- 11/3/2017
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Entirely unnecessary sequel on the further fortunes of a football hooligan turned gangland bruiser trying to rise in a grotty underworld of thugs’n’drugs
Despite flopping in cinemas, 2007’s odious and shoddily made crime saga Rise of the Footsoldier became a surprise hit on DVD, leading to this inevitable, yet entirely unnecessary, sequel. Like its predecessor, there’s a queasy feeling of hero worship about it all, as real-life violent criminals are held up as figures of respect and, bizarrely, sympathy. The plot follows football hooligan turned gangland bruiser Carlton Leach, played again by Ricci Harnett who also writes and directs, as he tries to regain a foothold in a grotty underworld of thugs and drugs. It’s a largely forgettable slog littered with tired cliches and ropey performances, seemingly aimed at an audience made up of drunken stag parties. Hyena does it much better. Arriving soon after this...
Despite flopping in cinemas, 2007’s odious and shoddily made crime saga Rise of the Footsoldier became a surprise hit on DVD, leading to this inevitable, yet entirely unnecessary, sequel. Like its predecessor, there’s a queasy feeling of hero worship about it all, as real-life violent criminals are held up as figures of respect and, bizarrely, sympathy. The plot follows football hooligan turned gangland bruiser Carlton Leach, played again by Ricci Harnett who also writes and directs, as he tries to regain a foothold in a grotty underworld of thugs and drugs. It’s a largely forgettable slog littered with tired cliches and ropey performances, seemingly aimed at an audience made up of drunken stag parties. Hyena does it much better. Arriving soon after this...
- 12/10/2015
- by Benjamin Lee
- The Guardian - Film News
Top Dog directed by Martin Kemp [pictured], Reign of the General and Red Billabong join growing slate.
Manifest Film Sales, a division of Intandem Media Group, are introducing three new films to international buyers at the Efm.
First up is Martin Kemp’s Top Dog, starring Leo Gregory and Ricci Harnett, which is currently in post-production. Universal has UK rights and will release in June.
Top Dog star Harnett’s Reign of the General (which he also wrote and stars in) is currently in pre-production and will commence principal photography at the start of March. Universal also holds the UK rights to the film that tells the story of underworld boss Carlton Leach.
Scheduled for a five-week shoot from late March on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Luke Sparke’s thriller Red Billabong stars Josh Helman and Lincoln Lewis and will feature the ‘bunyip’, a creature of legend that is said to hunt the Australian outback.
The three productions...
Manifest Film Sales, a division of Intandem Media Group, are introducing three new films to international buyers at the Efm.
First up is Martin Kemp’s Top Dog, starring Leo Gregory and Ricci Harnett, which is currently in post-production. Universal has UK rights and will release in June.
Top Dog star Harnett’s Reign of the General (which he also wrote and stars in) is currently in pre-production and will commence principal photography at the start of March. Universal also holds the UK rights to the film that tells the story of underworld boss Carlton Leach.
Scheduled for a five-week shoot from late March on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Luke Sparke’s thriller Red Billabong stars Josh Helman and Lincoln Lewis and will feature the ‘bunyip’, a creature of legend that is said to hunt the Australian outback.
The three productions...
- 2/7/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
Top Dog directed by Martin Kemp [pictured], Reign of the General and Red Billabong join growing slate.
Manifest Film Sales, a division of Intandem Media Group, are introducing three new films to international buyers at the Efm.
First up is Martin Kemp’s Top Dog, starring Leo Gregory and Ricci Harnett, which is currently in post-production. Universal has UK rights and will release in June.
Top Dog star Harnett’s Reign of the General (which he also wrote and stars in) is currently in pre-production and will commence principal photography at the start of March. Universal also holds the UK rights to the film that tells the story of underworld boss Carlton Leach.
Scheduled for a five-week shoot from late March on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Luke Sparke’s thriller Red Billabong stars Josh Helman and Lincoln Lewis and will feature the ‘bunyip’, a creature of legend that is said to hunt the Australian outback.
The three productions...
Manifest Film Sales, a division of Intandem Media Group, are introducing three new films to international buyers at the Efm.
First up is Martin Kemp’s Top Dog, starring Leo Gregory and Ricci Harnett, which is currently in post-production. Universal has UK rights and will release in June.
Top Dog star Harnett’s Reign of the General (which he also wrote and stars in) is currently in pre-production and will commence principal photography at the start of March. Universal also holds the UK rights to the film that tells the story of underworld boss Carlton Leach.
Scheduled for a five-week shoot from late March on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Luke Sparke’s thriller Red Billabong stars Josh Helman and Lincoln Lewis and will feature the ‘bunyip’, a creature of legend that is said to hunt the Australian outback.
The three productions...
- 2/7/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
On a rainy night in December 1995, three youngish gangsters called Tony Tucker, Patrick Tate and Craig Rolfe and plying their trade largely in Southend, were murdered in a Range Rover on a remote country lane near Rettendon in Essex. This drug-related gangland slaying has now become as staple a subject for the British cinema as Chicago's 1929 St Valentine's Day Massacre has been for Hollywood. Just as you've forgotten the explanation for the Rettendon killings, another one turns up with a slightly different plot and some new suspects. In 2000 we had Terry Winsor's Essex Boys where Sean Bean gets out of jail and pursues the grasses who put him away. Julian Gilbey's 2007 Rise of the Footsoldier traces the career of one Carlton Leach, a teenage West Ham football hooligan who becomes a major protection racketeer and ends up implicated in the Rettendon affair. Made in 2010, Sacha Bennett's Bonded by Blood...
- 1/27/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
On 24th December Rise Of The Footsoldier The Extreme Edition is going to do it all over again with a whole new cut of the film that not only boasts 20mins of extreme footage but also more violence, more guns and more sex! To mark the release, we’ve got 3 double play steelbooks of the film to give away!
Available in a limited edition Double Play Steelbook including both DVD and Blu-ray the all-new-cut is a must have for fans of the genre and also includes an all new commentary and an interview with visionary director Julian Gilbey (A Lonely Place to Die). If you think you’ve seen Rise Of The Footsoldier, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
This British crime epic charts the inexorable rise of Carlton Leach from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to leader of a notorious gang of criminals who...
Available in a limited edition Double Play Steelbook including both DVD and Blu-ray the all-new-cut is a must have for fans of the genre and also includes an all new commentary and an interview with visionary director Julian Gilbey (A Lonely Place to Die). If you think you’ve seen Rise Of The Footsoldier, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
This British crime epic charts the inexorable rise of Carlton Leach from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to leader of a notorious gang of criminals who...
- 12/14/2012
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
When Rise Of The Footsoldier was released 5 years ago it redefined the British Gangster genre.
On 24th December Rise Of The Footsoldier The Extreme Edition is going to do it all over again with a whole new cut of the film that not only boasts 20mins of extreme footage but also more violence, more guns and more sex!
Available in a limited edition double play steelbook including both DVD and Blu-ray the all-new-cut is a must have for fans of the genre and also includes an all new commentary and an interview with visionary director Julian Gilbey (A Lonely Place to Die). If you think you’ve seen Rise Of The Footsoldier, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
We have three copies of the limited edition double play steelbook DVD and Blu-ray to give away to our readers.
Hooligan. Gangster. Legend
This British crime epic charts the inexorable rise of...
On 24th December Rise Of The Footsoldier The Extreme Edition is going to do it all over again with a whole new cut of the film that not only boasts 20mins of extreme footage but also more violence, more guns and more sex!
Available in a limited edition double play steelbook including both DVD and Blu-ray the all-new-cut is a must have for fans of the genre and also includes an all new commentary and an interview with visionary director Julian Gilbey (A Lonely Place to Die). If you think you’ve seen Rise Of The Footsoldier, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
We have three copies of the limited edition double play steelbook DVD and Blu-ray to give away to our readers.
Hooligan. Gangster. Legend
This British crime epic charts the inexorable rise of...
- 12/13/2012
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
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