Sure Cass is about hooliganism and has enough of that to fit the bill, but this is good enough to be mainstream viewing.

We found it much better than we expected: good central performances and a great arc lift this from its genre to something better.

It really looks and sounds (the language is what is was, every second word is filth, but then it was) like the British East End 80s down to the council flat doors.

I can honestly recommend this a good well-made film about life in Britain in the early 80s, it is a little light on production and directing values, it is shot too simplistically, but the story is well delivered, it is probably not for your granny (unless she's a hard nut),but deserves a wider audience than just 20 year old males with a footie hard on.

My first introduction to "football" hooliganism was "Green Street Hooligans." I didn't really connect with Elijah Wood in that film. "Cass" is a much better tale that gets deeper into the hooliganism of soccer... I mean football.

Cass, played by Nonso Anozie, was born with the name Carol, but he eschewed it for something less girly (and something less likely to get him picked on). He was Black and adopted by a white woman named Doll (Linda Bassett). He grew up facing the rigors of racism and bigotry as many Black folks do in the west. He found a home and a second family with the football hooligans of West Ham. He rose through the ranks and founded a gang called ICF (Inner City Firm).

The movie is a biopic showing his journey and development. As an American this was still new and foreign to me. We are very tribal about our teams, but we reserve gang violence for neighborhood blocks.

This is the film adaptation of how one Carol "Cass" Pennant rose from being an orphaned black boy, adopted by a white middle aged couple, to being a leader of the notorious football hooligan firm, The ICF.

You know what's funny? That one of the most well known names in the world of British Football Hooliganism is the last in the line of football violence related medium's. Had this film, and Cass' book been ten years ago, it surely would have had a greater impact. Going back to when the Brimson Brothers decided to write about a topic nobody but those involved understood in the mid 90s {source Everywhere We Go}, there has been books galore from what seems almost every footie hoolie mob going. Throw in all the film's and documentaries that have found a distributor since Gary Oldman starrer, The Firm 1988 {ID, Football Factory, Green Street and The Rise Of A Footsoldier etc}, well it's a pretty exhausted subject. So much so, that it's only really those of a certain age, and of an inclination to the topic, that can get much out of what essentially feels like a belated cash in.

In Cass' favour is that Pennant does have an interesting back story from which to launch from. His upbringing, and early struggles with racism is nicely dealt with. It put me in mind with Caroline Gall's book about hooligan outfit Zulu Warriors, where the black and white mix of races became united at football matches {see what I mean about this film trailing in others wake's}. So it be with Cass, it does have a bit of heart to go with its obvious shouty muscle. But here in lies another problem with the film, where does it want to go? What is it asking or telling us? Is Cass conflicted emotionally? Or is he merely using his troubled youth as an excuse for pounding some poor Newcastle fans head in? Pertinent questions that aren't properly answered I feel. There's a nice sequence with Cass in prison, as his racial standing is called into question by a patois spouting convict, but outside of that the film flits between being about a troubled man to an all punching thug. Something that, as I mentioned earlier, is pretty much old hat now guv.

Nonso Anozie does good work as Pennant, and Natalie Press continues to be effective in these type of roles {see Fifty Dead Men Walking}, while the underused Tamer Hassan asserts his scenes in another typecast role. I personally enjoyed the film because I can see that those involved thought a good film could be made about the matters at hand, but I'm afraid that anyone hoping for something fresh are in for one big let down. 6/10