With star turns by David Tennant and Dougray Scott, United tracks the story of 1950's Manchester Utd,
from the early days of the Busby Babes, through to the Munich Air Disaster and the consequences of trying to keep the
club together in the harrowing period afterwards.
The film starts off by telling the story of the Busby Babes, highlighting just what a fine team they were,
and, importantly, what a team they were potentially going to be. Sir Matt Busby is played by Dougray Scott
but to be honest he's outshone by Jack O'Connell's performance as a young Bobby Charlton, which is an absolute
masterpiece as we follow his attempts to get into the first team. As well as Bobby Charlton,
the other character around which the film tends to centre is David Tennant's fantastic portrayal of Sir Matt Busby's
assistant, Jimmy Murphy.
United nicely highlights the massive differences between the players and practices of the modern-era,
with those of fifty years ago. The film shows players smoking, drinking and eating what they want, before
and after matches, whilst a great moment sees Duncan Edwards (played by Sam Claflin) tell Bobby Charlton that
the way to get women is to pretend to be a plumber rather than a footballer, implying that women back in the 1950's
would be more impressed with a person who fixes toilets for a living than those who hammer in 30 yard
screamers into the top corner every Saturday ! The early parts of the film look good too, with the North-West in
the 50's being portrayed exactly how it was - industrial, grey, working class. And hard as nails.
The whole feel of the film obviously changes when it starts to depict the events at Munich airport, and the drama
and emotion is cranked up a notch. Anyone who manages to get to the scene of the 1958 FA Cup Final without a lump
in their throat will have done well, but surely won't survive the scene where Jimmy Murphy prepares to take the
team out onto the Wembley pitch and then sees the faces of the players who didn't survive. A really powerful,
moving moment.
Football is a passionate, emotional game, but with this film covering the heart-breaking story of young footballers,
coaches, journalists and others losing their lives it will not just be the obvious Manchester United fans that this
will appeal to, but it will be of interest to football fans the world over. Indeed, in a similar fashion to
The Damned United, as a piece of moving drama it will also appeal to people who have no real interest in
football. All in all, a fine film with some great performances.
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