Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance

As a fan of the franchise this is a disappointment on par with number 2. The other two main actors were missed like with number 2 when it was just Carlton's character. The humour is almost all gone and your left with a film trying to take it's self to seriously. The whole thing about this was always the comedy and violence that blended so well and the great cast, Craig Fairbrass is an amazing actor but this time Pat Tate is all but on one occasion without humour. I do hope they get back to basics and just have a laugh with it as that's what I see as the attraction to the films. They do have an amazing cast but bring back Terry Stone & Roland Manookian!

So here's yet another Rise of the Footsoldier movie, and again with archetypal Cockney tough guy, Craig Fairbrass, who played a minor role in the classic first flick.

Here's what the producers don't seem to understand: the first Footsoldier movie was successful not only because of the violence and constant use of the c-word, but also because the movie had a strong sense of character and story. You knew who it was about and what it was about. You could follow it from scene to scene, knowing what was going on.

With all these sequels, it feels like a melange of scenes that weren't good enough to go in the first movie. There's barely any throughline to the story. All I got was Fairbrass asking everybody if they'd seen somebody called Billy.

Why is it so hard to make a movie with a discernible plot and characters?

I've enjoyed all the films in this U. K. franchise and this one is really well made. It's quite different to the others and on a higher level of quality compared to the cheeky boy banter style of the previous movies. I was actually rooting for Pat and saw his good guy. There's a nice little twist towards the end and the action is decent. Craig Fairbrass really raised his acting chops in this one and the whole cast shone.

I'm down for more of these so as long as they keep making them with this quality in mind, I'll watch them. This was a lot of fun. Definitely worth a look and yeah, more please!

I left a very scathing review of Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins, so I feel it is only fair that I should leave one about ROTF: Vengeance.

I am by no means a fan of this franchise and I sat down to watch this film, expecting the usual - constant swearing, misogyny, drug taking, stilted accents and A-level drama quality acting.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The heavy use of the c word (probably 10-15 in this film) and comedic elements have been replaced with a slow-burn storyline, focussing on character development, and the lighting and set pieces were great, which proves that Nick Nevern has really hit his stride with this instalment.

A minor criticism would be that they seemed to bring back one recurring character too many, and the storyline became a touch confusing because of this.

All in all, a very enjoyable watch - the omission of the ghastly Terry Stone character helped immensely.

Just to be straight, I've loved the whole series of movies (apart from the second one) & it's been well documented (including by Craig Fairbrass) that this series of movies keeps rolling on because the fans love the almost cartoon violence & the bad Essex boy personas. Unfortunately, us fans loved the realistic gang violence & the naughty boy stories that stemmed from the original. We all know Pat Tate was a wrong'un & the previous films have not held back from showing the character he was. In 'Vengeance' he's the main protagonist of the story & made out to be almost a hero. The out of control Tate we've seen in previous movies (hookers & blow in the hospital & the infamous pizza cutter scene for example) is completely tamed down in this & is almost unrecognisable. Like Taken & the Expendables this almost seem dumbed down to reach a wider audience. The story is disjointed, the superb Geoff Bell is criminally underused & unfortunately just doesn't hit the spots that the diehard fans want. I so wanted to love this but ultimately felt mugged off.