Romper Stomper

An intense, thrilling ride, just barely hanging to the right side of descriptive and moral credibility. Crowe gives a star-making performance.

nazi-worshipping skinheads have feelings too

Skinhead gangs are mindless and incredibly violent. Thats the extent of the plot !! This Is England features a similar skinhead group in a massively more intelligent and interesting way.

Succeeds in all the ways American History X fails, and a better, more powerful film. One of Russell Crowe's first (and finest) performances, it is at once terrifying and mesmerizing.

Very strong images and breakneck action make this a must-see. The fight scenes and the big chase are very intense, and are extremely effective at invoking your emotions. Very solid, and it's interesting to see Russell Crowe do something different. It's also sadly notable that Daniel Pollock committed suicide after the film was completed.

The best to be said about this movie is that it has a memorable musical score.

sort of on the unbelievable side, and it seemed as if some important things may have gone unexplained, but still pretty enjoyable and i was glad that it didn't turn out to be a story of redemption like american history x. it was just a bunch of racist assholes.

I think this is a great film. It's extremely well put together, and Crowe is an absolutely riveting monster. It's fairly unblinking portrayal of this subculture and refusal to deal in lessons makes it a tough sell.

Between this and Angel Baby, in '90s Australian cinema Jacqueline McKenzie really had the market cornered for mentally unwell women who were sexually abused by their dads, didn't she? In a just world, it would be McKenzie, rather than Russell Crowe, who went on to international stardom. She's beautiful and I love her. Aside from that, this is ugly, unpleasant, and rather stupid.

Very well acted and directed but doesn't have much to it otherwise. Better than American History X but worse than This Is England.

okay movie

Nice performances and gritty photography. I think I probably would have enjoyed this more had I seen it before I saw This Is England. They're so similar, but This Is England is just done better.

A kind of precursor to American History X and This Is England, even seeming like an exact blueprint for the latter at times. The casting is one reason this movie works so well. We can see these people are ruffians, but also sensitive, fearful and intelligent at times. Crowe really has a certain magnetism. The plot is cleverly written to show that these type of people are already on the run from an unwinnable fight. Even the tragicomic ending doesn't really spoil a quality dirtbag morality tale.

While on the whole Wright's objective is both novel and admirable: meticulously rip apart the neo-Nazi ideology from the inside out. Instead of confronting the damage it does to the outsiders, let's analyze how it's toxic to those who voluntarily subscribe to it. Far-right values like loyalty, courage, family, warriorhood are exposed as nothing more than cheap talk. Only problem is that, detail-wise, Wright makes some questionable and troubling choices (e.g. skinhead punk soundtrack??).

I want to give this more credit, it's an energetic compelling film with some really good performances. Not really much wrong with it, except that it feels completely hollow and artificial. All the scenes on their own stand up, but when strung together the rush towards the climax feels so telegraphed that it strips out all the emotional and moral weight of the film.

Seen 2x

A silly film about a serious subject matter. Beginning well enough with scenes of visceral racial violence, then soon gives up on any proper social commentary and focuses on the badly acted gang of skinheads and the shenanigans they get up to, each scene getting sillier and seemingly more pointless.

A film within which quite a few people seem to perceive qualities pretty much utterly invisible to my eyes; devoid of insight.

[distant] I've seen bits of this in the (many) years since I first saw it, looks like a grungy soap now. First saw when I was at college in a town with a sizeable skin population, between it's realistic-enough depiction and style it seemed much better back then. Score indicative of my feelings back then, doubt a proper re-watch would be so kind.

Romper Stomper is a raw, brutal and gripping take on the skinhead culture. There are no clever Balints or Vinyards, and I may just be a simple creature, but I like my neo-nazis obnoxious and stupid as hell. Sadly the movie suffers trememdously from a contrived triangle love-story. Without it, this would've been a cult classic.

Surprisingly entertaining. One of my favorite Russell Crowe performances. The parties, fights and music are all pretty hilarious. Should be a cult classic. Nazis are scum so some people may find this offense I suppose, also real skinheads will take offense to this because real skinheads are anti-racist (shocking right? do some research on this it's actually pretty fascinating). I like it better than American History X but not as much as This Is England.

Crowe is excellent.

I always found McKenzie beautiful buy here, OMG! She's so cute.. Crowe shows us that he didn't learn much in the 17 years that passed, he had it all along, breathtaking performance. But the plot is a little weak since it doesn't give us anything about the characters and the motivations (maybe except for one of them but even that is very thin). Also one of those movies which proves that every bad thing happens because of women :).

An impressive young and angry Russell Crowe.

Definitely original, well-made, and hard to forget. Accurate as far as the styles are concerned, but vilifies and stereotypes as expected with lots of unnecessary depraved scenes not to mention the disappointing ending.

Very desperate. I don't know how accurate it is, but from within the film it seems authentic enough. Of how reality, love and humanity, clashes with the (insane) ideals of youth. The ending seems tacked on to all that.

Good film, I just couldn't hack it

A young Russell Crowe plays an obnoxious skinhead gang leader. Not a great flick, but filmed in a very gritty and realistic style.

Good film.