Spike Island

'Spike Island' is clearly a labour of love: love for the '90s, for Manchester, and for the Stone Roses. These are loves which I share with the filmmakers. However, I have a feeling that this is what carried me through a great portion of the film. From the outset the cinematography is slick and fun, the cast are likable and solid, and it goes without saying that the Roses soundtrack elevates the film whenever it is utilised. The major downfall of the film is the script.

It's not terrible by any means, and is wonderfully funny and charming throughout. Unfortunately, it feels like a first draft for what could have been an excellent final film. It suffers from trying to cram in too much, which ultimately has the opposite effect and leaves the viewer feeling like we haven't really covered anything. All of the characters, even the protagonist, are extremely thinly sketched, each with different a Coming-of-Age cliché stuck to them in place of actual character development. The setting has been painstakingly reconstructed, and in a sense the aforementioned scantiness leaves us with an impressionistic, unfocused but very accurate glimpse of the time and place. Which is nice, but cannot sustain an entire feature film.

A major plotting fumble which could have been corrected in a redraft is that it drags on for far too long after the actual gig has taken place. This is the focus and the high point of the film. Afterwards it just feels like a slow decline in which you can't see the bottom, as the film wraps up the myriad plot strands which it never successfully committed us to in the first place.

The adulation also gets a little cringey at times, even for a film which was made with the purpose of adulation: lines like 'I feel like they made the record just for me.' 'Don't be daft, they made it just for me.' really could have been rewritten. I don't often roll my eyes to Stone Roses praise.

I've focused a little more on the negatives of the film than I wanted to, because after a single viewing those unfortunate flaws are what have left the biggest impression. The overall experience was positive, though. The timing of the release couldn't have been better. I'm glad the film was made, and I'm glad that I saw it. At the premiere, no less, where there was a lot of goodwill and anticipation from everyone, myself included. It's just a shame that I couldn't love it as much as I wanted to.

I didn't watch this movie for the Stone Roses reference, The Stone Roses are of no particular interest of mine, I have nothing against them it's just the music simply isn't my scene.

Having read reviews on here after watching this movie, I seemed to rate it more than many others and the factor which I believed allowed me to enjoy it more, was ironically, my non-existing interest in The Stone Roses. If you went into this movie solely on the basis that it is marketed with the Stone Roses i believe you would be disappointed. Spike Island is a run of the mill, coming of age, British indie flick. It's a very familiar story, Five lads from Manchester who are all in their last year of school travel to Spike Island in hope of watching the Stone Roses in concert. The usual story of falling outs, romance, friendship, loyalty and most of all growing up are covered in this movie. The Stone Roses are really a back story, a focal point of their interests but it is not relevant in the story or character development. The acting is good, but the characters lack any real substance. They all seem very clichéd and predictable, the manc accent is also overdone at times, we get that you're from Manchester, its based around the Stone Roses!

Overall Spike Island is a feel good, entertaining watch with good acting and a pleasant if not clichéd, storyline.

7/10

It's May 1990, Great Britain, and The Stone Roses are about to play a monumental outdoor gig at Spike Island in Widnes, Cheshire. A bunch of teenage acolytes of the band, aspiring musicians themselves, embark on a journey to Spike Island whist at the same time embarking on personal journeys of the real life kind.

Us Brits do like ourselves a coming of age drama set to the backdrop of musical importance. Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll) taps into the era of Baggy Manchester, of a Northern Britain dominated by pills, thrills and romantic bellyaches. To many of a certain age The Stone Roses were "their" Beatles, a power pop foursome that rocked it big time, their influence on the British music industry is still being felt today. This in spite of their relatively short life span. Re: The Sex Pistols at Winterland, see The Stone Roses at Spike Island (in other words it was a pretty awful gig all told).

However, the band are secondary to the teen angst narrative threads, to the scallywag japes and sexual growing pains. As Messrs Ian Brown and John Squire weave their chordal magic in the background, a bunch of spotty Herbert's with mad mac haircuts and iffy accents try and make sense of it all, of life, death, loves and hates. Music binds them together, but does anything else?

It's all very formulaic stuff, but for those of the time, or for those with a love for how music can define your life, or at the least shape its direction, then this hits the requisite chords. It's funny at times and the cast are ebullient enough to carry the clichéd and thin material home, but come the finale you will be remembering the soundtrack more than the story itself. 6.5/10

The UK is good at this...creating great cinema. Some of the drivel Hollywood is churning out at the moment (constant re-boots because they have frankly run out of ideas), makes you realise how good the UK film industry is at this game. I enjoyed this film immensely. One reason- I remember the time and music-I was 25 when this film was set, and I remember the big furore around The Stone Roses. I didn't fall for it myself at the time. I was (and still am) a big fan of New Order, and they for me were the greatest Manchester band, but fair play to the fans of the Roses, everyone likes different things. The film is a bright, very watchable, and at times funny experience, each character played very well. The film doesn't always follow the rules of predictability-I won't spoil it, but certain aspects could have turned out differently, but the writers didn't go down that route, and I found it better for it. All in all, if you like The Stone Roses it's a no brainer-see this film. Music fan? See this film. Great soundtrack too. 8/10.

Spike Island is the feel-good movie for the summer. Ideal nostalgic fun for anyone really, but especially those who love The Stone Roses, or anyone who loves the 90's, or anyone who used to be in a local rock band or is still in one.

The main protagonists of the story are five lads - Tits, Dodge, Little Gaz, Zippy and Penfold - who have formed a band; Shadowcaster. They have a big love for The Stone Roses and will do literally anything to get into the spectacular Spike Island gig, without actually having tickets to get in.

It's a very entertaining film with a story that is by turns funny, moving and heartwarming. At times it's a bit like Mission Impossible meets Quadrophenia, with a bit of Spinal Tap comedy thrown in; as the boys get more and more devious in their efforts to get into the high-security gig.

There's love, sex, violence, elation and sorrow; great acting, an uplifting summery atmosphere and an awesome musical score. At the centre of it all it's a very human, real story. I absolutely love this film.