TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

slightlymad22 As a fan of the original Burt Reynolds movie, I had mixed feelings about this movie. On one side as a traditional football (soccer) fan and not a fan of American football, I though I'd get more enjoyment out of it. On the other side I love the original movie so much it would obviously suffer in comparison, and let's be honest Vinnie Jones is no Burt Reynolds. Plot In A Paragraph: A disgraced former footballer is sent to jail for three years for drunkenly assaulting a police officer. Once there the Warden wants him to train the guards football team, he refuses, after a while he agrees to play in, and coach a team of cons to play the gaurds in a one off match.Whilst not as enjoyable as the Burt Reynolds version, it is a lot of fun with Jason Statham stealing the show as The Monk!! While Danny Dyer gets a lot of laughs, likewise Vas Blackwood as Massive and David Kelly is touching as Doc.

TheLittleSongbird If sometimes just lacking the creativity and vitality of the 1974 film, this is an above average sports/prison drama. There are some flaws though, one or two of the characters are thinly sketched, the plot is a touch simplistic and the first half hour just lacked the energy of the latter half of the film. That said, this is well worth watching. The whole film is excellently filmed and directed, and the soccer scenes are very well done. The final third is absolutely riveting, and really makes you want to see what the outcome is at the end. The music score is fine, and the performances are very good. Vinnie Jones is convincing in his first leading role, and David Kelly is stellar as the benevolent Doc. The best pieces of casting are (despite the accent) Jason Statham as maverick keeper and Jason Flemying's rather unconventional commentator. In conclusion, this is a good film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Jackson Booth-Millard I knew this title mainly because of the lead actor, and that it had football involved somewhere, so I watched it. Basically ex-England football captain Danny 'Mean Machine' Meehan (Vinnie Jones) is in jail for drunken driving and assault on two police officers, but because of his celebrity status he isn't much liked by all the other inmates, especially as he let them down in a crucial World Cup game. He keeps his head down for a little while until the opportunity to change the lives of the prisoners by putting one over on the guards. Led by Danny, the prisoners are trained ready to face the guards in a football match. So it comes to the match, and not even the death of Doc (David Kelly) gets them down, and they start really well. There is a point when Danny is threatened by the Governor (David Hemmings) that he could get a longer sentence, as he might have been involved in Doc's death, but he knows they have to win, and it is after they win that opponent Burton (Cape Wrath's Ralph Brown) gets him out of trouble to enjoy victory. Also starring Creep's Vas Blackwood as Massive, Robbie Gee as Trojan, Geoff Bell as Ratchett, Footballer's Wives' John Forgeham as Charlie Sykes, Smack the Pon's Sally Phillips as Tracey, Danny Dyer as Billy the Limpet, Jason Statham as Monk, Omid Djalili as Raj and Jason Flemyng as Bob Likely. Jones is a good rough character, and all the supporting actors, particularly Hemmings, Sykes and Statham add good support, while it takes a little while to get to, the football game, well, and maybe a little of the training for it, is fun to watch, a real boys movie. Good!

Romilos Fronimides Generally, I'm a fan of any British; that doesn't count me as an unfair person. When I'm talking for movies, I'll like to be honest and fair, because I love cinema...So... I'm a huge fan of European cinema, specially for French & British.This particular "kind" of British movies, the "so-called" ACTION-COMEDY ones, specially the kind of movies like the "Snach", is my TOP FAVORITE kind.This one, "Mean Mashine", is a quite good movie to watch. So, why I voted with "7"? Simple... If you're a fan of Vinnie Jones (as player or actor) and the incredible Jason Statham, you can't vote something below "7"! Of course, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" & "Snach", are two of the TOP British movies, with really clever scenario, fantastic directing and great acting.But... in this movie, you'll find yourselves laughing many times, by the unique British humor and... phrases!"Bollocks"!