The Damned United

Super Marcey's The Damned United Review

Rating: 4.5/5

I loved this film! I wasn’t sure what  to expect going in, I only knew it was a true story about a soccer coach  and is 44 days with Leeds United. When it comes to Italian soccer, I  know names and a bit of history, but I know pretty much nothing like  that when it comes to English soccer, so this story was new to me. I am  sure I’ve heard Brian Clough’s name before this film, but I had no idea  about what he did. This is kind of a bio-pic about him, going back and  forth between his time with Leeds and his time with Derby. At the core  is the partnership and relationship between Clough (played by the  excellent Michael Sheen) and Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall, amazing in  this role).

The story here starts off with Clough  going to the Leeds club, and we see their former coach Don Revie (A  fantastic Colm Meaney) has left the team for the national team. But just  how did Clough get the gig of coaching the top team? We see his rise at  Derby with Taylor, as ego’s grow with the teams massive success. Clough  does not get along with the Leeds team, trying to do things his way is  not what the players want. His time there it seemed his ego had gotten  the better of him and a falling out with Taylor is obvious since he  isn’t there at Leeds with him. It is really fascinating to see this all  unfold, it was almost like a history lesson with English football.

Clough the film character is likable, I  really enjoyed Michael Sheen’s performance. There was a lot of passion  and emotion behind it. The same can be said for Timothy Spall, he was  fantastic as Taylor (even if the physical resemblance wasn’t there).  Maybe it is just me, but I do think these two men are fantastic actors,  and the chemistry between them was electric. Because their partnership  and relationship are so important to the story, if the two actors didn’t  have the right chemistry between them wouldn’t have worked. Luckily for  the film makers, they struck gold here. Colm Meaney always seems to  show up in small roles, and even in Star Trek I think he proved he can  do fantastic work. He was excellent, I know nothing about Revie but I  felt this performance was perfect. At least it fit with the film, and  the showdown he has towards the end of the film with Sheen was just full  of such tension. Such a great and solid cast, I was a bit smiley when I  saw Stephen Graham show up as Billy Bremner the Leeds Captain. Another  fantastic actor, certainly deserves more credit. And keep an eye out for  another amazing talent, Jim Broadbent.

If I had to fault this film it would be  the pacing, it does fail the film a few times, but as engaging as it is  I didn’t notice it too much and it certainly didn’t ruin the experience  for me. I do enjoy films that are based on true events and real people,  when done right they can be engaging and thought provoking. This was  well made and entertaining, I think this is the kind of film even if you  aren’t a soccer fan you’ll enjoy it. Certainly a film I can easily  recommend, if anything just check out how fantastic Michael Sheen is.


First published at SuperMarcey.com

Recommendations: Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009), Milk, Hurt Locker, The (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)

Last updated: 2010-08-03 23:54:02 by SuperMarcey

The Damned United

The Damned United - Directed by Tom Hooper, starring Michael Sheen, Colm Meaney, and Timothy Spall - Rated R

I wasn't expecting much from this film. Mainly due to the fact that it's about a soccer (sorry, rest of the world, I mean football) coach rivalry during the 1970's between Brian Clough (Sheen) and Don Revie (Meaney). But it turns out that it is actually a character study of Clough. He is ambitious to the point of obsession, but it's hard not to like the guy because Sheen plays him so well. But what really hooked me with this one was the way the story was told. It jumps around a bit and that makes things much more interesting than if it was in order. I was worried about having to watch a lot of soccer scenes but that turned out to be a complete non-issue as well. This simply is not a sports movie. I know nothing about the sport of soccer and my lack of knowledge did not affect my viewing at all. So if you were put off by the subject matter with this one you might want to think again because The Damned United is much more than a soccer movie.

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Eric Harris - www.canneltoncritic.com

Last updated: 2010-05-08 09:28:21 by user06

The Damned United - ***1/2

Starring:  Michael Sheen

Review:  I came across this movie on the internet and it sounded interesting so I decided to give a go and rent it.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  This is a British sports movie about soccer and an event that happened in England in the 1970's.  Now, I am a big soccer fan but I don't know much about it's history, let alone it's British history. 

What I got was a very well made very good movie.  The plot centers around the English soccer manager Brian Clough and his rise to prominence in the soccer world.  In the late 1960's and early 1970's the Leeds United football club was the premiere team in the English Premiere League.  That is, until Clough becomes the coach of Derby County.

In their first meeting Leeds United destroys Derby County and it is obvious Derby is overmatched by the much superior Leeds.  However, in just a couple short seasons Derby, with the help of Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor, Derby quickly rises to prominence and eventually takes down Leeds to become the supreme club in the EPL.  This leads to Clough butting heads with Derby County team management as they start to question the amount of money he spends.  This eventually leads to his resignation, eventually leading to him becoming manager of Leeds United, like he always dreamed. 

However, in the process of getting ousted from Derby he alienated his assistant and best friend Peter.  By this time Brian Clough was so high on himself that he had lost track of things and was under the impression all their success was because of him and that Peter had nothing to do with it.  This is why he decided to take the Leeds job without Peter.  Things fell apart quickly after that.
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The Leeds players were loyal to their previous coach and didn't want to play for Clough.  This made for a tough situation and Clough's tenure got off to a rough starting losing their first few games.  This lead to a desperation call from Clough to his longtime friend Peter asking him to come help him at Leeds.  Peter denies and tells him not to call again.  This is a very powerful scene between two friends and a man (Clough) who is too proud to say he's sorry. 

This leads into what the movie is really about, Clough.  This movie is about how Clough rose to prominence and how all his success went to his head.  How Clough went from a humble coach to an arrogant individual who took all the credit for everything but really didn't deserve it.  Clough would never admit that his success was as much due to his friend Peter as it was to himself.  Seeing Michael Sheen's transition, from humble beginnings to an extraordinarily arrogant coach who alienated all the people he needed because he was blinded by all his success, was quite a sight.  Sheen hit all the notes perfectly and you can really feel the transition from humility to arrogance and then finally torn all the way back down after being fired as Leeds' coach with only 44 days under his belt. 

This movie was so good not because of the sports aspect but because of how it framed the man Brian Clough.  Clough was a proud man but the movie does an excellent job of showing how pride mixed with success can lead to arrogance and as we all know, pride comes before th fall.  Definitely worth your time.

The Damned United

Writer: Peter Morgan based on book by David Pearce
Starring: Michael Sheen, Colm Meaney, Timothy Spall

The writer of "The Queen" and "Frost/Nixon" strikes again with a very compelling sports movie that is so much more. Michael Sheen is wonderful again as a coach trying to coach his rival team to a championship but failing because of his ego. This has a wonderful cast and this is really about the friendship and it's ups and downs between Sheen and Timothy Spall. The acting is wonderful and the story touching.

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Vincent Snavely