SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

dwolf77 This Is England is a masterly crafted drama. The film manages to balance comedy and a sence of tragedy incredibly well throughout the entire film. The acting is simply brilliant. For a first-time actor, I was blown away by the performance of Thomas Turgoose, who played Sean. Stephen Graham, the actor who played Combo, provided the most effective and dramatic scenes in the film, and was absolutely fantastic. The writing seems incredibly real, and you feel as if you are almost watching a documentary because of how natural the dialogue feels. The cinematography is great, it is well-directed, and the story is captivating. My only criticism would be that the music, on occasion, does some of the thinking for you, and there were just one or two scenes I found to be a little cheesy. Definitely watch this film. You will be blown away by the realness of it, and it surely won't be a waste of your time.

Prismark10 This is England is a slice of life nostalgia for the skinhead brigade. Set in the summer of 1983, it is a coming of age tale of Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) a 12 year old lad in a working class estate whose father died fighting in the Falkland's war.In one day he gets picked on several times and later gets befriended by a local gang of assorted street kids, some of whom are skinheads. They are into ska, reggae and new wave music and spend their time committing vandalism. Shaun endears himself to their leader Woody and gets accepted by them. For the first time in a long while he is having fun being part of that gang.When Woody's friend Combo (Steven Graham) returns after a spell in prison things quickly change. Combo experienced racism in jail, he joined up with white extremists and upon release he advocates racist and nationalist views even going to National Front meetings. Woody who is more apolitical and has a black friend wants nothing to do with him.Shaun and a few others ally with Combo but he is a ticking time bomb. Pretty soon they are threatening the local Asian kids and robbing the Asian shopkeeper armed with a machete (who somehow never called the police.) You figure that pretty soon, Combo will do serious harm to someone.Director Shane Meadows does a good job in recreating the early 1980s scene in his film from art direction to costume design. It is obvious he recalls this era well. However there is nothing in the story I found intriguing or even surprising.I am at a loss why so many critics became so orgasmic over this film unless they got some kind of perverted arousal to see scenes of young Asian lads playing football being threatened by a grown up white bully with a knife. Maybe secretly they sided with Combo and wanted their country back!Being a teenager myself in that era I met these kind of nationalist skinheads, always complaining why they were doing poorly and others doing better than them. They were always threatening people who were younger than them or making sure they outnumbered them first before beating them up. Even now over 30 years later they are still moaning and laying blame to whatever immigrant groups they can point to for their own failures.Meadows elicits good performances from a young cast but I was left nonplussed with the script and thinking about it we had many similar shows on television in the 1980s such as Going Out which starred Perry Benson who also features in this movie.

SnoopyStyle It's July 1983. Shaun Fields is small in stature with a giant chip on his shoulder. He lost his beloved father in the Falklands. He gets thrown out by the Pakistani shopkeeper and gets into a fight in school. He is befriended by Woody and his gang. They get into minor mischief and friendly mayhem. Shaun gets Smell as his girlfriend. His mother won't buy him Dr. Martens. The group is disrupted by Combo returning from prison. Combo takes over leadership as he pushes his white power agenda. Woody, Jamaican Milky, and others leave but Shaun falls for Combo. Combo takes the group to a National Front meeting with the call "This is England".The kid is amazing and no punches are pulled. Shane Meadows puts his soul into this. The music is terrific. All the characters are vivid and specific highlighted by Combo and Woody. There is a sparse power and intensity to the story.

Rozzi1 Set in a small northern town in 1983 the story follows Shaun, a 13 year old loner who falls in with the local gang of Skinheads, led by warm-hearted Woody. Aside from the unrealistic anti-Falklands sentiment among some of the characters, namely Combo (I don't recall anyone back in 1982 being against the war – except a few Labour MPs – and only several regiments of professional soldiers went to the Falklands not droves of conscripts as the film implies, also it was over in 3 months so had long finished before the film's time line begins) aside from that, the film is brilliant and perfectly captures the essence of youth, disaffected youth, group bonding, and growing up in the early 80s, devoid of any typical TV drama nostalgia getting in the way. It's gritty and realistic in the best form, and director Shane Meadows manages beautifully to inter-lace this with several stylised moments without spoiling the overall tone of social-realism.Loner as Shaun may be, he is also full of courage and spirit beyond his years, and quickly becomes a popular member of the varied bunch of Skins. But when Combo, a much older Skinhead and a violent, psychotic, racist, returns to the town after a 3 year prison term, everything changes for Woody, Shaun and the group. Dividing the gang on racial and political lines, half of the lads and lassies stick to their morals and remain with Woody – while the rest, including Shaun, join Combo and a his racist sidekick Banjo.The complexities of Shaun's decision to join the racist faction of the town's Skinhead scene, is probably be best explained as a post-traumatic reaction to the loss of his father. Having been a soldier, Shaun's father is killed in action during the Falklands war, and so as the film begins so too does Shaun's grief and suffering as he struggles to make sense of the world. Combo and his faction offer Shaun a tougher, more male orientated existence and one which thrives on acts of aggression and violence. It is this environment and behaviour which Shaun needs to help him cope with the grief and the absence of a strong paternal figure. As the story reaches its climax, Shaun reaches his own conclusion about the life around him.An excellent, well written, brilliantly directed and acted, social drama. Highly recommended.