Elijah Wood

Performer for Our Time

Green Street Hooligans

(2005)

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EJW's Performance

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Green Street Hooligans (2005)
Elijah Wood as "Matt Buckner"

Edward C. Patterson, site owner
Annie Graham, copy editor

After playing a mute cannibal in Sin City and a geeky wraith in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Elijah Wood steps once again before the cameras, full faced and full bodied in one of his best performances ever as Matt Buckner. Looking back at all of Elwood’s many, many films, Green Street Hooligans fits his idea of a proper character arc in which to develop and inhabit a screen presence managing to stay with the film-goer far beyond the price of popcorn.

We know that Green Street Hooligans will be a rough and tough film from the opening line ("Fuck Me.") to its reputation (which precedes it) for incredible violence. The fact is, the violence is very credible and Elijah helps make it so as he develops from a near spineless likeable Yank to ballsey likeable Yank. We first encounter Matt Buckner at Harvard University, and he’s a real mope. He snarls at his nemesis, Jeremy Van Holden, but fails to keep the one thing he sees no use for—his reputation. Elijah plays these scenes with crestfallen emptiness, his face pained, yet bewildered. You feel like putting a boot up his ass, so wimpy is his act. One wonders, with his future bright in journalism, just how he would ultimately fair in the competitive world. He continues to mope along to London, to his sister’s flat and in a discussion about his father, a famous journalist, who seems to have abandoned all ties to his family. (There might be some parallels in Elijah’s personal life to draw on here, although Matt does not have a strong mother to rely on).

When pitted against the wild-ass, almost manic Pete, Matt is a shadow. Elijah follows him like a sheep. He follows Steve’s commands about keeping some money from Pete, like a sheep; and his attempt to kick Pete in the crotch dismally fails. When Matt is flat on his back in the street, we see him at his lowest ebb. Then, the good times roll and Elijah begins to pour more and more juice into the character as he drinks with the firm, learns their songs, puts up with Bovver’s crap and finally goes to West Ham Stadium for the match. Still an outsider, he melts back into the woodwork after the match only to be chased by the rival firm. We know from Elijah’s sheer portrayal of terror, with an American Express card shoved in his mouth and two Firm members holding him down for a trouncing, that perhaps it would be best they put him out of his misery. The turning point happens when the first melee occurs. Matt is told to "Stand His Ground," and to think of someone he hates. It’s interesting that unlike other "fight" movies, where the 90-pound weakling goes through a building up, instructions and points, tips and directions, the Firm just fights. Elijah is thrown into the fray with nothing more than the essence of the character he needs to become—the one that will "Stand His Ground." He survives his first fight, is given encouragement and some sense of acceptance, although they tell him he fights like a girl.

Matt’s journey slices across the path of Bovver, the jealous second in command of the firm. If there’s any ground he will not stand it is against Bovver. He gives him plenty of room. This is where a second theme is played in Matt’s lesson book. Standing your ground as "firms" are about reputation, something Matt lost at Harvard. Once it’s about something else—jealousy or vengeance, it’s a different business altogether. Elijah's character recognizes this and steers clear of Bovver.

Matt loves his sister, but they really don’t know each other well thanks to the distance of their father. It’s interesting that Elijah reserves one use of the F word (one of 13 times—a new personal best, surpassing Ash Wednesday by 6) for his sister. As the lost Elijah moves forward, he becomes more focused, steely eyed. He appears taller (thanks to perspective cinematography that bootstraps him up to Charlie Hunnam’s height in some shots using those famous LOTR techniques). He goes from wearing jeans, floppy shirts, gray hoods and overall soft clothing to sharp, skin tight, black turtleneck apparel—kick-ass, I’m cock of the walk clothing. He even gets a tattoo. (Chest this time).

An interesting choice Elijah Wood makes is in the school scene, where the British Schoolboys kick his ass at football. This would have been an excellent opportunity to sweep in some lighter business—some comic relief. But although whimsical, Elijah chooses to plan it deadpan (much like he did in The Ice Storm when Mickey Carver doesn’t catch the football, ‘cause he’s dazed or even drugged). Good choice this as we stay right in the progression of the story and the arc of the character. The fact that Pete tries to protect Matt by banning him from the Manchester venue and the bottom line that Matt comes anyway and achieves the coup de gras during the fight at the Stadium marks the last hurdle between acceptance and incorporation. Matt is now a full member of the tribe.

Elijah Wood’s ability to convey character through facial expression is a mighty facet in his talent. He has the uncanny capability of staring without blinking for long periods of time; and even during other cast member’s dialog, blinking in cadence with their lines. When he voices over the bit dealing with how he feels about the violence, it’s almost a wasted stretch of dialog as we see it in his face—blood from the nose and the chin seeping into a blossoming smile showing us his upper teeth in true satisfaction. As things turn uglier, the Millwall threat, Elijah manages to harden his face—a hardening we glimpsed occasionally when he played Frodo, but moreso when he played Mikey in Chain of Fools.

Matt gets a chance to Stand His Ground with his father. He wasn’t able to face his father when he was expelled. Now he basically tells his father to buzz off. But things are running their course. Matt’s defense againt Bovver at lying about his Journalism major, allows Elijah to become a little scrapper. Of course, this is the one time he does confront the situation between Pete and Bovver; and unwittingly strikes hard on Bovver’s neurosis. The fire at the Abbey and the hospital scene is a collage of emotion for all cast members. Elijah’s brash use of the F word on entering the hospital is the only time it rings false (but, in an interview where the rampant cussing was discussed among cast members, Elijah pointed out that Lexi Alexander made him yell "fuck" as he entered the emergency room).

Between the hospital scene and the Millwall battle, Elijah has little dialog. We are treated to an Elijah Wood silent movie during this stretch. We watch his eyes; his pensive staring out the windows, his smoking (incessant smoking) and the rich assortment of cuts and bruises (one of which, over his eyebrow - rumor says was real and permanent). Elijah is building to the iconic moments that are about to reach climax. He makes us write his mental dialog as he ponders the situation. His run to join the Firm is exhilarating. His performance during the last fight scene is magnificent. This fight scene is not the gratuitous tribal lark of the football match. This one is the blood feud of two warring families—The Lord of the Rings does The Lord of the Flies. It is truly barbaric and Elijah takes a pounding—yet, stands his ground and prevails. He even has a yell and facial twist akin to his "Gandalf" shout in Moria. But the cost is catastrophic. It changes him forever, as he voices over how he learned about when and where to draw the line.

We last see Matt Buckner confronting his nemesis Jeremy Van Holden. He does it as a journalist would—capturing a confession on tape. However, when Jeremy asserts himself he doesn’t stand a chance when Matt springs into action. Some reviewers detracted from the film because Matt Buckner does not beat "seven shades of shit" out of Jeremy, like Pete would have done. But Matt, in his exercise of restraint (barely so), shows he has learned the final lesson—when and where to draw the line. Elijah’s self-assuring smile and other worldly visage when he emerges from the Business Club into the night air of Boston tells it all. His celebration with his invisible "mates" as he marches down the street chanting and clapping tells us he’s off to see the best match of his life—the rest of his life.

The powerful performance of Elijah Wood in this film is remarkable. If he set off to separate people’s view of him as an actor—that is as Frodo Baggins, he need not bother. Great actors do not need to worry about such stuff. Elijah will always be known as Frodo and I don’t think he minds (terribly). After 35 films, he’s too ensconced to suffer from Mark Hamill Syndrome. But in Green Street Hooligans he has proved that his consummate skills will keep him before the public’s eye as long as he wants to be in that eye. With another Premier on the horizon (Everything Is Illuminated), an animated feature (Happy Feet), some more cameo work (Paris Je t’aime), another ensemble film (Bobby) and a yet to be named bio-pic of Iggy Popp, Elijah Wood need not fear a lack of work, even if Green Street Hooligans is the film Hollywood doesn’t want you to see.