User reviews

7 years ago a biographical British Gangster film set in the Essex crime world was a successful hit and one what divided critics. It was also a film that highlighted more than ever the dividing line of snobbery that exists in the British film community. To explain what I mean by that, there are the big commissioners in the industry with great connections to the Baftas and other awards and anything that falls outside of that sphere is often looked down upon, much the same way as the stars of Soap Operas are somehow regarded by the same establishment (wrongly) as less serious actors than their contemporaries. I mention all this because its important to put into context how this film will be viewed by many. ROTF 1 was in many ways not an easy film to like. It was a story about unsympathetic characters, small time crooks and their way of life. (A very similar premise to Goodfellas) It was dismissed by many (wrongly in my opinion) as trashy violence, but I actually thought it should be regarded as one of the best British films of that genre about that era. It was essentially a biopic of ICF member, Carlton Leach, and later a key figure in the Essex underworld, and friend to the murdered Tony Tucker of 1996 Ranger Rover murders.

This sequel examines the aftermath that Leach had to deal with his slow climb back to a reality where he finds some sense of normality. Carlton (Played again by Ricci Harnett who also writes and directs) starts the film in a downward spiral. He works all the time and when he isn't sniffing coke and stealing from dealers, he's cheating on his wife with a bit of skirt in an alley round the back, his behaviour is alienating his friends, his work colleagues and not least of all his family, especially his wife, Denny (Coralie Rose, superb) who soon moves out taking the younger kids with her. Carlton is soon forced to re- evaluate his attitude and his life but while pushing coke off the table comes with relative ease when the stakes are so high, leaving behind the life of crime comes with more difficulty and is harder to extricate himself from. An unexpected reunion from the past soon forces him to make changes in his life for the better of those around him.

Those expecting a balls to the wall gangster caper may well be disappointed as Hartnett opts for a far more realistic depiction of the downside of the less glamorous side of the life of crime. This is a film about a damaged man and his slow steps back to recovery and while yes the gangster life is still there, the story here is smaller, because this part of Carlton's life is set on a smaller stage, entirely his own. While the shady deals and debt collections are still very much the backdrop for the journey the story this time is less about the crime and more about the fallout damage of that life style. For some this might make for less compelling viewing but I personally think it was a very brave decision by the film maker. This film might be uncomfortable for those who have experienced drug addiction, anger issues and broken marriages to watch but for many it may well come hand in hand with being in this line of work. Hartnett wisely assembled a team of very competent actors in his supporting cast to fill out the other roles - Luke Mably is in a class of his own as best friend Shawn, the loyal torture specialist whose speech about his love playing a record will make you squirm in your seat. I felt like we needed to see more on his back story though one can just accept him as a member of Carlton's firm easily enough. He is supported by Johnny Palmiero as Mad Jack who gets all the best lines and brings much needed humour to the piece, because if you have even dipped your toe into that world you will know that many of the real characters are faster than anyone with their comedy come backs. Joshua Osei and Scott Peden do well with very under written roles to make their mark and the likes of solid actors Nabil Elouahabi and Jasper Britton add strong credibility to their characters.

Despite a tight budget and being aware that Harnett had a very difficult journey getting the film finished the film doesn't feel rushed or cheap. The shots of sex are done with some degree of taste while the violence is cleverly more implied (with much greater effect I might add) than it is shown. Well shot by Alfie Biddle, it is a well produced compliment piece to its predecessor and a very different kind of animal and even though the setting does change from Essex to Tenerife it doesn't feel quite as epic but clearly that was not what Hartnett was going for. This is sadly a world where female characters take second place, with the significant dialogue going to Coralie Rose as Carlton's wife. (Rose is a massively under rated actress and should be seen on our screens a great deal more) However, as a film which continues to tell the story of Carlton Leach, it does exactly what it says on the tin - I only have a casual interest in films of this genre and there have been some truly dire films over the last few years which have tried to capitalise on the continued telling of stories connected to the Range Rover killings. This film does not feel like one of those at all and while its general appeal maybe fairly narrow its a competent well made piece of work with some stand out performances which will certainly need a third segment to bring it to its final conclusion.

The original RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER was unfortunate in that it arrived very belatedly in an era when most British films seemed inspired by Guy Ritchie . There's only some much mileage you can squeeze out of a formula so by the time RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER came out everyone had become bored by mockney gangsters . That said I found Julian Gilbey's true life crime movie to be rather underrated and if there was a British equivalent of GOODFELLAS that might have been it . Crime doesn't pay ? Tell me about it . Despite this the idea of a sequel seems needless and I can see why this continuation of Carlton Leach's life story came and went without the slightest fanfare

In its favour director and star Ricci Harnett concentrates on continuity with the prior film . Some of the cast are resurrected and we have the same look and feel as the 2007 . There is a slight difference and that where Leach became a very peripheral character in the second half of RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER here he appears in nearly every scene and is the constant central character of the narrative

This leads to a fundamental problem though . While the lives of Tate , Rolfe and Tucker were unremittingly violent and made the first film compelling here there's considerably less violence which makes for a less compulsive film . Don't get me wrong , you won't confuse this with Walt Disney family fare but this tends to draw your attention to another aspect - self justification . Carlton you see isn't really a bad man and only maims and beats people who deserve it and the understated violence is only inflicted on people who deserve . Perhaps even worse there's an element of redemption running through the narrative subtext but how does a former West Ham ICF thug and gangster redeem himself ? The answer is he probably can't . It's not a bad film but if you need convincing that crime doesn't pay the message has been spelled out in better films without trying to elicit sympathy from the audience

"Rise of the Footsoldier Part II" is a classic case of sequel-itis. It's more of the same: British gangsters shouting the f- and c-words every time they open their mouths, and random on screen sex and violence, though nothing memorable like the first movie's Chelsea grin scene, or even that movie's sex scene.

What's missing is any kind of sense of purpose. The first movie told the story of Carlton Leach's rise from his time as a football hooligan to a proper career criminal. What does this one tell? That he's now got kids, and his wife's sick of his criminal ways? And more miscellaneous criminal goings on?

It's all totally pointless, and a complete waste of time.

The original Rise was told from Carlton Leach's perspective, 'Rise II' doesn't appear to have had a lot of input from Carlton himself as far as story goes it's pretty thin on plot. The acting varies wildly from good (surprisingly, Craig Fairbrass and solid as per from Ricci Harnett) to downright awful - Steven Berkoff, his days have been numbered for some time. Terry Stone is forgiven as although normally the worst of the worst, his performance as Tony Tucker in the original 'Rise', even with the laughable wig, was outstanding. Here he is seen in flashback and it's just about okay. As I mentioned, the plot is thin but at least most of the actors tried to make the best of what they had to work with, in the end it's a by-the- numbers film that barely keeps you interested and then only really by Fairbrass and Harnett. I didn't fall asleep so it must of had something.

Not a patch on the original William/Julian Gilbey Rise of the Footsoldier. This concentrates on the aftermath of the Rettendon Range Rover murders. I am not sure even Director Ricci Harnett, who once again plays Carlton Leach, knows what to do in the movie. The script is like it was made up as he went along. No wonder you can buy the Blu-Ray for a couple of quid at major online retailers. This straight to DVD job went straight in the bin after viewing.

Two hours of my life I will never get back rubbish

It is a good film, well put together and fun. They overdo the sex scenes a bit. Most people who watch this film have seen a pair of tits before.

The characters are pretty well cast. Leech is good but the actor looks totally different in almost every way which is a bit frustrating at times.

The people the film is based on are clearly no angels. But the film does not falsely try to make out they are great blokes. The problem in my view is that some young blokes watch films like this and then sort of look up to these people as glamorous.

They are in fact horrible caaants, especially the bloke who gets a lot of pleasure out of horrific torture. The fact he is a fictional character that is best mates with Carlton could be an illusion to something else if you catch my drift.

But I cannot deny that although I don't think there is any honor in being a gangster, I like many others find their world fascinating.

There are better gangster films about bigger cheeses out there but this one is still enjoyable and actually has a good climactic ending. It does not suffer the same shocking production values as some really budget gangster films

I can only assume Berkoff needed some quick money as an actor of his ability should not have gone anywhere near this tosh. This film exaggerates the importance of Carlton Leach in the underworld. The acting is mostly dire but the script they are working to is unoriginal with dialogue that could have been written by a semi literate 12 year old. The direction and accompanying music just grates.

I like this one more than the first instalment.

'Rise of the Footsoldier Part II' is, albeit marginally, enjoyable. My main issue of the average original is that there's no reason to care one jot about lead character Carlton. While he still isn't likeable, I felt myself a little bit more invested in him. That's a positive step.

There are, obviously, still a load of issues. The dialogue remains poor, while the overall pacing continues to be hit-and-miss. The level of acting is questionable, also. With that said, I do think it improves on the 2007 film - the plot, most crucially.

Ricci Harnett is passable as Carlton. None of the others stick out, though Coralie Rose (Denny) is at least likeable. It's also interesting to see Charlie Heaton, nowadays a star of 'Stranger Things', involved in a very minor role.

I'd class this as good, even if it only scrapes into that bracket.

Disjointed, no story poorly put together cliche fest.

Literally no reason for it to exist just trying to squeeze an extra few quid out of the franchise which was already flagging.

I was at the premiere of this film from the beginning of the night to the end of the night it was a brilliant event I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I thought considering it was one of the actors directorial debut i thought he turned out a brilliant effort both directing and acting and I thought all of the actors were brilliant and if you want to see a all round film this is for you it had everything the story was really well told and had a load of depth to it and to top it off the question and answers session after was the icing on the cake i can't wait for this to come out on DVD and all the people that didn't get to see it at the cinema you should definitely get the DVD/Blu Ray as it is well worth the money you won't regret it

After the appalling first one, this entry really was a step up in terms of acting, pace and story (even if in real life these people didn't even know each other at the time). This falls mainly on to Luke who did a star turn as Shawn.

However, after watching the third one you can see why the magic wasn't there... back to the same old play acting and ego stroking faces.

I'm not sure what most of the other reviewers watched, but it must've been a different film to the one i saw. Either that or they were sniffing the same stuff as the main character did for most of the film! This was one of the worst films i have ever seen. Everything about it was garbage. Avoid like the plague.

Where do I start...acting is awful, bordering on on parody. Hard men who don't see bad things happening to them. It's 1985 gangster wonderland. I hope the idiots who made this got forced to watch Michael Mann and Tarantino films for a month. Amateur at best, swearing is pathetic. A poor film of a poorer subject. AVOID.

I like that they focus the story on Leach, he's the character I was first drawn to, however they take his arc in an unfortunate direction.

Gone is the larrikin turned gangster, Leach has become something else much darker and the film suffers for it.

Really dire . Lots of bad actors grunting and swearing at each other while pretending to stick shedloads of Colombia's finest up their noses. A terrible story with nothing to keep the viewers attention.

Watched this last night. Wasn't sure as to how it would be, as sequels can often be something of a disappointment. However, after a wee bit of a slow start, it got going and it focused on Leach's life, post the murder of his friends. It wasn't afraid to show the less glamorous side of crime and that it's not all that it's dressed up to be, by some. Good to see Leach's efforts to reconnect with his family. Good performance from Ricci Harnett and I also wasn't aware that he had lots of input behind the scenes. Obviously something of a labour or love for him.

It's also been left open for a third installment. I wouldn't mind seeing that, if it comes to fruition. :)

I thought the first film was very good, way, way better than most films in the English gangster genre, and an excellent film overall, regardless of genre .

So I was looking forward to seeing the follow up, but oh dear, what a disappointment.

This had a totally different feel to the first and felt very cheap, a real shot on video, direct to dvd affair. Can't believe that the budget was 5 million, what was it spent on?

Apart from the cheap feel of the film, I can't put my finger on why it didn't work for me, but it just didn't.

Because I enjoyed the first one, I've already bought the rest of the films on blu ray, I hope they're better than this one.

The conclusion to the first film meant that a remake would be pointless.

We are over the 90's, and the point of the original was to document the eventual demise of big time drug dealers.

My dealer at the time got done for 3,000 pills, 5 years in nick, but I never saw any violence. He's a painter and decorator now, he enjoyed making people happy selling happy pills and he was nothing like the big time drug dealers portrayed in the media, he would chill out at my parties, I knew he was 'something', but he wasn't a thug, let's paint it real.

Review: I really wasn't expecting that much from this film, especially when I saw that it had something to do with the Rettendon killings but it actually turned out to be quite entertaining. The raw, intense and gritty storyline was, surprisingly, quite gripping and the Essex backdrop was put together well. The violence, sex and foul language did go a bit over the top but that was expected from this English, gangster type movie, which was based in Essex, at a time when the Rettendon murders were still in people's minds. All of the actors put in a decent performance, and they made the movie seem extremely real but the person that I was most impressed with was Ricci Harnett (Carlton Leach), who was pretty brutal and unlikable at the beginning but he found some redemption towards the end. When Carlton finally decides to "Knock It On The Head", to live the quiet life with his family, he is pushed to limit and his past catches up with him, so I would like to see a 3rd instalment, to finally see if he has turned his bad ways, to the good. The only downfall about this film is that there are a lot of movies in this genre which, are the same in many ways but I still stayed interested throughout, and I found it quite enjoyable. 

Round-Up: This movie was also directed by Ricci Harnett, who played the leading role, so he really did give this project his all. The London born actor/writer/director has also starred in movies like 28 Days Later, Vendetta starring Danny Dyer, Top Dog, the impressive Ill Manors, the Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan, and some TV series like the Bill, Buried and Dubplate Drama. He also starred in the first instalment of this movie, so he wasn't new to the project. Anyway, for his directorial debut, I personally think that he done a good job with this movie and his acting was top form but it would be good to see him tackle another genre, because this one has been done to death.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their crime movies starring Ricci Harnett, Steven Berkoff, Luke Mably, Craig Fairbrass, Terry Stone and Tygo Gernandt. 4/10

Not a movie as such more a collection of stories that happened to Carlton after the Rettendon murders.

There is not a plot to speak of as such but every ten minutes or so, a new scrape, a a new business venture, a new fight takes place to keep things bubbling along quite nicely.

Unfortunately, with this, it just isn't good enough. It does keep you vaguely engaged, but, not enthralled.

The lead actor is a little 'one paced' and limited. And compared to the real Carleton Leach, who appears as a cameo at the end of the movie, looks tiny and carries little or no menace. Instead coming across in the movie as an angry little man. All snarl and no bite.

MINDLESS, NO CONTINUITY, ONE MEANINGLESS SCENE AFTER ANOTHER, DO NOT WATCH THIS AND EXPECT ITS GOING TO IMPROVE WHAT YOU START WITH GOES STEADILY DOWNHILL.

HAD TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN AN ALTERED STATE. JUST IMPULSIVE FRAGMENTS AND SCENES. PROBABLY THE POOREST STREAM I HAVE EVER SEEN. KEPT HOPING FOR SOME DEVELOPMENT TO TIE IT TOGETHER. POORLY WRITTEN,EXTREMELY POORLY ACTED, AND WORST DIRECTING.

ANY 8-10 RATINGS ON THIS HAD TO BE EITHER PAID FOR OR COHORTS OF THE PRODUCER/DIRECTOR. ITS JUST HARD TO UNDERSTAND HOW HULU WOULD HAVE THIS. THIS DISTORTS,INSULTS AND MINIMALIZES SOLDIER RETURNING HOME.