The seventh instalment in the seemingly endless Rise of the Footsoldier franchise opens with a voiceover from star Craig Fairbrass that neatly sets up what follows: “They killed my best friend, now they all have to die.” The real-life Pat Tate was murdered in his 30s in Essex in 1995, but that has not stopped his fictionalised counterpart, played with hard-headed gusto by Fairbrass throughout the series, from continuing to dominate the screen.
Tate’s Ibiza mission
In this outing, Tate is in Ibiza, but he is not there to party. Instead, he is intent on tracking down his enemies and delivering the titular retribution. The plot brings in various arms dealers, guns for hire and, perhaps more unexpectedly, the CIA, adding grit to the proceedings.
The director is series veteran Nick Nevern, who appeared in Rise of the Footsoldier: Marbella in 2019 and took the director’s chair for 2023’s Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance.
Stylised action and clunky dialogue
Retribution is at its best during stylised slow-motion action sequences that evoke The Untouchables, if that classic had a soundtrack influenced by Paul Oakenfold and was made on about a hundredth of the budget. Dialogue, however, is not a strength, with much of it made up of interchangeable gangster film cliches, such as “These are very serious people” and “You remind me so much of her.”
While audiences may not expect Oscar Wilde-like witticisms from a Footsoldier movie, gangster-speak can be written with more zest. Even Nick Love’s The Business delivered the line: “The geezer was so hard even his nightmares were scared of him.”
Baggy runtime and a call for focus
Dialogue issues might matter less if the film were more action-packed, but the overall runtime feels distinctly baggy. More double-crossings and colourfully accented characters with different agendas have been added than strictly necessary; it is Tate’s vengeance quest that should remain the backbone of the piece.
It might be time for the demise of the footsoldier, or at least for a film that sticks more closely to the promise of its opening line. Rise of the Footsoldier: Retribution is in UK cinemas from 28 August.
