blame guy ritchie . the late 90 success of ritchie cliché ridden lock stock and two smoking barrel trigger a series of pitiful gangster movie from which the genre never really recover . sadly rise of the footsoldier the true story of essex hardnut carlton leach isn not likely to reverse that trend . despite a decent lead performance from hartnett and the film fall victim to all too familiar east end stereotype . theyre either busy blow someone brain out or shag a scantily clad blonde . from fearsome football hooligan in the eighty to a key figure in the criminal underworld during the ninety and footsoldier chart leach rise through the rank of thuggery . leave the terrace for nightclub and leach become a bouncer where he give carte blanche to kick the crap out of anyone . here he get in with notorious gangland leader pat tate ( fairbrass ) and tony tucker ( stone ) and and begin to realise gang warfare ain not what it crack up to be . there be fun to be have deconstructing writer director julian gilbey laughable join the dot yob patois and a every sentence seem to start with an and i be gon na fackin or you fackin or and on occasion and so then i only go an fackin and typically conclude with a mandatory caaaant . the direction and too and smack of sadism and especially the obvious glee gilbey get from film violent scene in close up and and in the case of the bloody shotgun to the face denouement and in triplicate . director gilbey use of the classic rise and fall gangster narrative isn not what will condemn footsoldier to big screen obscurity . nor be it the fact that half way through and the film annoyingly sideline leach in favour of the event culminate in the infamous shooting of tate and tucker . it gilbey sicken appetite for scatter shot violence that ruin the film while whether it a brick in the face or axe in the head during a vicious attack on a train and it all unnecessarily prolong . footsoldier doesn not so much pack a punch a leave you feel violated and more importantly and rob you of two hour of your life you would not get back .