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Amazon.co.uk Review
Intense, ferocious and deeply unsettling, I.D. is an excellent examination of Britain's unsavoury contribution to global culture: football hooliganism. Whereas Alan Clarke's The Firm showed the violence that lurked behind a seemingly normal façade, I.D. posits football hooliganism as a feral temptation. Dedicated, ambitious undercover policeman John (Reece Dinsdale) becomes seduced by the violence of an East London gang, ultimately becoming lost from his regular life with his wife (Clare Skinner). Dinsdale delivers a measured performance that sees him spiral from committed, right-minded policeman to shaven-headed, Nazi-saluting monster, revelling in the violent impulses he embraces with glee and, alarmingly, becoming a hero amongst those he is infiltrating. Warren Clarke is absolutely monstrous as the leader of the hooligan gang, a paragon of bigoted hatred and the embodiment of John's future. Often unnervingly realistic, director Phil Davis is adept at creating riotous mob scenes that chillingly accentuate the world into which John is drawn. It could be said that I.D.'s premise is too thin, and that hooliganism is not addressed in an effective manner, but it is without doubt a chilling character study of the temptation of violence and the horrific influences that lurk in the heart of society. --Danny Graydon
Special Features
English
Region 2
Region 2
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unsettling character-study,
By
This review is from: I.D [DVD] [1995] (DVD)
You know a film has something special when people either love it or hate it, and this film definitely has something special. Many dissenters appear to have expected a movie about football hooliganism per se, but the hooliganism takes a back seat to the character study that is this movie.
This is a movie about a policeman trying to do his job the best way he knows how, putting himself in the line of danger. He is doing dirty work in the name of good, and it sure is dirty! The deeper he gets in this new role as football hooligan, the more his real life fades into the distance. As the film progresses, we are confronted with the question of where the good lies. When does an undercover hooligan become just a hooligan? As his "real life" disintegrates, is it he who has disintegrated? Don't expect this to be a documentary on football hooliganism or "a day in the life of a football hooligan". Here you will find a character study that blurs good and bad in vivid colours and leaves us feeling unsettled. It is brilliant.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tense and unsettling tale of football violence,
By Some Bloke (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I.D. [VHS] [1995] (VHS Tape)
This is an entertaining tale of an ambitious copper who goes undercover among football hooligans to find out who's orchestrating the violence. As time goes on he becomes attached to the thugs, addicted to the violence, and removed from his police past.
The film thrives on tension - the fear of discovery, the threat of imminent violence and the loss of control expoerienced by the central character as he goes through the transformation. The gang fights are a big part of the make-up of the film and as such aren't to everyone's taste. But there is a heavy psychological aspect to this film and that's not to be forgotten. The acting is convincing, as are the scripts and storylines. I'm told that some of the fight scenes aren't realistic to the football world, but they do fit the story. What is convicing is the way the central character works: I used to do undercover investigations (non-police), and I felt that many aspects of the effect of the job were reproduced convincingly, and I appreciated that. Perhaps this connection of mine endears me more than average towards this film. Don't expect something high-brow, but although this film does rely to a large extent on the fight scenes, there is more and the story is worth bothering with and reproduced in an accessible and convincing way.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easily the best of the football hooligan films,
By
This review is from: I.D [DVD] [1995] (DVD)
I.D. is my favourite of all the football hooligan genre films. It's a cut above the rest and also has deep psychological undertones as it systematically maps out how one person (a professional and respected member of the community) can gradually engage with the camaraderie, sense of belonging and sheer thrill of fighting on and off the terracings.
The actual storyline is one of an undercover police unit set up to infiltrate the football hooligan structures and hierarchy associated with a particular club - they take this a bit too far though and end up 'turning injun' as they would have said in the Wild West. Great lead role by Reece Dinsdale who by the end of the film has completely reinvented himself (for the worse).
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