Vinnie Jones has made his name in film in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Gone In Sixty Seconds and Swordfish. Before that he was a tough man football player in the U.K..
So here in Mean Machine we have him playing Danny a former professional Football player and getting busted for laying down in an international soccer game and then assaulting police. He lands in prison.
The head of the prison, played by David Hemmings, dragoons Danny into coaching and captaining a football team, which will play a team,made up of the prison guards. Lots of money is riding on the game.
Sounds childish? It is.
Mean Machine is a film about sport, which would have to be one of the most difficult types of films to make, especially if the mood is meant to be comic.
Sport is theatre already. Attempting to dramatize what's already high drama is likely to be a let down; especially once the film actually enters the sporting arena. The climactic football game in Mean Machine, when it finally occurs, is a hollow shade of the real thing. These boys should be ashamed of themselves.
As far as the humour goes, well I don't think it's funny to maim an opponent on the sporting field. It might be impressive, but never funny. But that's where I part ways with the fans of films like Lock Stock and Snatch who reckon that's it's even funny to seriously maim someone with indifference.
Comic violence done to stirring music isn't entertainment. It's just violence. Adding insult to injury by putting this is a sporting contest isn't going to win too many votes from me.
One Broken Fly
So here in Mean Machine we have him playing Danny a former professional Football player and getting busted for laying down in an international soccer game and then assaulting police. He lands in prison.
The head of the prison, played by David Hemmings, dragoons Danny into coaching and captaining a football team, which will play a team,made up of the prison guards. Lots of money is riding on the game.
Sounds childish? It is.
Mean Machine is a film about sport, which would have to be one of the most difficult types of films to make, especially if the mood is meant to be comic.
Sport is theatre already. Attempting to dramatize what's already high drama is likely to be a let down; especially once the film actually enters the sporting arena. The climactic football game in Mean Machine, when it finally occurs, is a hollow shade of the real thing. These boys should be ashamed of themselves.
As far as the humour goes, well I don't think it's funny to maim an opponent on the sporting field. It might be impressive, but never funny. But that's where I part ways with the fans of films like Lock Stock and Snatch who reckon that's it's even funny to seriously maim someone with indifference.
Comic violence done to stirring music isn't entertainment. It's just violence. Adding insult to injury by putting this is a sporting contest isn't going to win too many votes from me.
One Broken Fly