Rise of the Foot Soldier

Aroview: Brutal gangster drama chronicles three decades in the life of Carlton Leach - a football hooligan who went on to become one of the UK's most infamous criminals.

Seemingly content to indulge in relentless bouts of ruthless violence, without the necessary distanced awareness of a director such as Scorsese (an overt influence), this nihilistic saga trades on its ability to shock into submission, but eventually ends up dulling the senses, especially since it doesn't boast the kind of conflicted, three-dimensional characters that mark the genre's finest representatives.