ID

Dom Robinson reviews

ID Distributed by

Universal
I.D.,
œ17.99, Region 2 DVD,
Fullscreen, Stereo
(Universal)

Tagline: “Remember one thing – who you are.”

If there’s one thing some sections of the British public tend to excel in, it’s football hooliganism. It needs to be stamped out and Reece Dinsdale as Police Constable John Brandon, together with his superior, Trevor (Richard Graham), ingratiate themselves into the “Shadwell Army”, the colloquial name for the nutters who support Shadwell F.C. and live for a fight on the terraces each weekend. There’s such a thing as taking it too far, as John’s long-suffering WPC girlfriend Marie (Clare Skinner) discovers when his loutish behaviour is repeated at home.

As the pressure increases, they turn regulars at The Rock, the local pub where the angry mob, fronted by Sean Pertwee, hang out, but you need to have some front if you’re going to challenge pub landlord Warren Clarke and chat up his assistant, niece Saskia Reeves.

The performance from Dinsdale is simply breathtaking as his real persona degrades and he becomes everything he ever hated, thus affecting the lives of everyone around him, in a cast which includes Eastenders’ cocky Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) and several well-known faces, including other soap stars, even if you can’t put a name to all of them. The film was directed by Philip Davis, star of the Robert Carlyle heist movie Face and Channel 4’s legal drama, North Square. He even gives himself a brief cameo as the Duty Sergeant.

The only major disappointment comes in the DVD’s presentation. Made in conjunction with BBC Films, you’d think the 4:3 fullscreen presentation would be open-matte, allowing for a reasonable picture with room to spare in the composition, but there’s too many scenes when people get cut off the sides of the screen, making you scream for anamorphic widescreen. The average bitrate is a mediocre 4.81Mb/s, often peaking over 6Mb/s.

When it comes to the stereo sound, the dialogue is clear, but the roar of the football chants will not damage your speakers. There’s plenty of fruity language amongst the English subtitles, but the extras amount to no more than a 10-strong picture gallery and a two-minute trailer which, to add insult to injury, is in 16:9 widescreen!

The Picture: **
The Sound: **
Extras: *
The Movie: *****