I Watch Films: Final Score
It’s Die Hard at a West Ham European fixture.
Extremely well informed rebels from a former breakaway Russian republic secretly take over Upton Park during the home leg of the European Cup semi-final against Dynamo FC. They rig the whole place to explode.
Sadly for carrying out their plan Dave Bautista’s private military contractor character, Michael Knox, is in town, acting as uncle to a deceased comrade’s daughter Danni. Obviously she, like her dad, is a huge Hammers fan, so he gets tickets.
If there’s an interesting thing about the film it’s that it tries very hard to be about football, yet it is inevitably distracted by all the off-pitch drama. Danni sneaks off to talk to a boy (who gets handsy); Faisal, the comic relief steward recruited by Knox initially to find Danni, later to stop the attackers, cares about his job, not the game; the attackers aren’t into the football; and Knox doesn’t care*. Between establishing shots of the players and the crowd, the film loves to take us into the background spaces of the stadium. Chases in the concourses and on the roof. Fights in kitchens and toilets. Moving through the police control room, the TV studio, some of the nice receptions rooms, the bare concrete stairs and the posh lifts. But the on-pitch drama is secondary.
Watch This: For Die Hard at a West Ham European Fixture
Don’t Watch This: For a film that has much to say about football, or the use of violence.
* The commentators and the (brief) appearance of the pundits in the studio are the few voices that actually comment on the game. Also actually interested in the game is [SPOILERS].
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