Review of This Is England

I'd heard nothing but rave reviews about the film, but I must say I felt slightly disappointed after watching it.

My main gripe was the fact that nothing seemed to be going on in the middle of the film. It follows a 12 year old boy as he deals with the death of his father fighting in the Falklands war. Becoming ever more frustrated by school and the people who bully him he finds solace in a gang of skinheads who - despite the connotation - seem to be completely unracist and generally harmless. Eventually a former member of the gang is released from prison and manifests his racist poison in the group, dividing them and engaging on a racial hate campaign with the remaining members.

All the while you realise something bad is looming over the group. I thought the film would be smarter than to end in the rather predictable way it did, but at the same time I was disappointed in the ending for being far too rushed. It seemed like a convenient way just to end the film and I didn't really appreciate it.

Furthermore, I didn't like Thomas Turgoose and felt he was too young for some of the things that were happening. Would a 16 year old girl really go out with a 12 year old boy? They really were dark days! Just for the sake of comparison, American History X is a far better film.

7/10

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Added by Grand Assault 2 years ago on 7 December 2007 04:02