The Firm, written and directed by Nick Love and released in 2009, is a remake of the film of the same name from 1988. It tells the story of a young man by the name of Dominic, who likes dressing sharp and heading out on the town, but isn’t too keen on putting in a hard day’s work with his Dad. But Dom is a good kid at heart; the worst he and his best mate Terry (Billy Seymour) might get up to is to smoke the odd joint or yell random abuse at strangers.  

The turning point is a night out that goes wrong when Terry provokes the wrath of another nightclub patron, who turns out to be ‘Bex’ (Paul Anderson,) the head of the dangerous West Ham football firm.

Dom meets Bex to try to smooth things over and to prevent the gang targeting his friends. Dom then follows Bex, hounding him and copying the gang leader’s every move until he is finally invited to join.  It all starts out as fun: hanging out with his older, funnier new mates, having a laugh and generally carrying on, but it turns serious when Dom gets caught up in the bitter feud between two rival hooligan firms. 

The thing that strikes you about ‘the firm’ is just how much the sport that these characters proclaim to support has been sidelined in favour of wanton violence. The teams that the rival gangs follow are only mentioned a few times throughout the movie. The sport itself is only depicted once, and even then only as a grubby back-street training drill that bears little resemblance to the beautiful game.  

Bex’s motivation is derived solely from elevating his own social standing. He truly sees hooliganism as a way to raise himself above the masses, to become something.

But when things turn sour and he is humiliated by the rival firm, his motivation reverts to something much more basic: revenge. 

Bex’s character leads a double life in this film. On one side he is a respected real-estate agent with a loving wife and a young son. But when he steps into those hooligan shoes everything changes. The suit disappears in favour of a tracksuit, and the haircut changes from something sleek and sophisticated to a drooping, brutish fringe. It’s a clever technique on behalf of the film-makers, almost like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde mechanic.  

Paul Anderson puts in a gripping performance as this megalomaniac. The Bex character is utterly irredeemable and horrible, but he transfixes you in a way that only the best movie villains can achieve. 

Eddie Vedder is also good as Bob, Dominic’s father. He starts out as your typical gruff, daggy suburban Dad, but this gives way to genuine dismay as he realises the strength of the hold that the gang has over his son. Vedder’s loving, protective yet powerless portrayal of the character is very easy to empathise with. 

 The scenes in which the two mobs clash are confronting and believable. In these moments the film’s soundtrack drops away, to be replaced by the angry murmurs and roars of the approaching gang. Once the fights break out it’s sheer bedlam, a mix of incomprehensible shouts and jeers. These scenes were mostly filmed using hand-held cameras, putting you right in the middle of the chaos. 

Audio and Video: 

The bleak urban setting of ’The Firm’ has been captured in crisp detail on this Blu-ray. The soundtrack is very sparse, in keeping with the original film, with bursts of colour provided by pop tracks from the 80’s.  

Closing comments: 

The Firm has a very blunt way of telling its story, and a habit of trying to force us into the appropriate emotional response. While we do grow to care about these characters, the resolution is less than satisfying.

The individual elements are good: the cinematography, the performances of the actors, the soundtrack. But somehow as a whole it doesn’t feel quite complete. Good, but it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.