Dangerous Mind of a Hooligan, 2014.
Written and Directed by Greg Hall.
Starring Paul Marlon, Samuel Anoyke, Roger Griffiths, Simon Phillips and Mark Sangster.
SYNOPSIS:
Five criminals unknown to each other are hired to complete a bank robbery. What should have been a smooth operation soon descends into paranoia, violence and horror…
Reportedly renamed to have a ‘hooligan’ element in its UK title to cash in on impending football World Cup fever (clearly someone holds the English footie fan in high esteem), this crime thriller doesn’t actually have very much to do with said beautiful game. True, lead gang member Danny (Paul Marlon) liked a bit of a kick about of the more physical variety before or after a match, but his past does not impact on the full hazily plotted yarn.
The story, such as it is, comprises of a whodunit, or more explicitly, a ‘whohiredit’, ‘it’ being a cockernee style bank job. The five members of the gang taken on to do the robbery have never met and only have vague associations with their initial contact, an Irish/Sicilian chap named Sabini.
This ‘mysterious’ (or perhaps, ‘undeveloped’) Sabini character asks the gang to carry out the four million pound heist with exact and extreme violence. However, the violence ends up on him as he gets taken out during the raid before he can fully debrief the clueless team.
What follows is an intermittently entertaining effort to look ‘into the criminal mind’; while a homicidal police detective (Mark Sangster) trails the unlucky mob. Picking up a curiously quiet hostage from the bank on the way, the group take a road trip across the South Coast looking for a way out…
The film shows more promise than what could have been expected and some of the flashback heavy plotting is at times well drafted. Unfortunately, the disjointedness of the pacing – there is a lot of sitting around and asking ‘just what is going on?’- lets down the overall solid acting performances put out.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert W Monk is a freelance journalist and film writer.