Goal! II
By Cory Peynado, Blockbuster.co.uk

“Cometh the moment, cometh the man.”

I’ll be brutally honest, before this movie even had a chance to glimmer from its shinny casing I was rolling the eyes. I’m really not a football fan, never have been. My understanding is that we have a few of those already in England, it’s not like I’m letting the side down. So immediately this movie had its work cut out and much like my first taste of candy floss, I just didn’t want to like it… but I kinda did.

Steady on though; I’m not saying I’m going to start wearing brightly coloured scarfs or brandishing dedicated tattoos, it just means that I think they cleverly managed to give the story a bit of a priority as well as the game. If this had been merely a football match wrapped up in a prestigious bow then I would not have watched passed the first half hour. But it seems they have paid some attention to the people who aren’t die hard football enthusiasts and so despite being slightly predictable it did manage to win me over.

The film pretty much picks things up where the last one left off. After helping Newcastle reach a Champions League qualifying spot in the first movie we are now at the beginning of the 2005/2006 season and with his talent only growing and his enthusiasm evident in every game he plays Santiago attracts the interest of Real Madrid and he signs with them in a swap deal involving Michael Owen.

Still friends with his old striking partner Gavin Harris (Nivola) life just seems to be getting better and better for Santi, but with all the parties and stardom he begins to forget about some of the more important things in life and expectedly the cracks in his supposedly perfect adventure starts to appear.

What this film does do quite well is give you a taste of what it might be like to achieve that ultimate footballers dream. Santiago Munez, (Kuno Becker) our lead character actually succeeds in giving us a first hand look at the some of the trails, the press coverage, the media interest, the high-status party invitations, the dedication from fans and the overwhelming feeling of coming from nothing to being an internationally recognised sportsman.

Even though the football playing aspect didn’t interest me much there were some other things to keep my excitement up, his fiancée Roz (Anna Friel) for example and fans of the series will be happy to hear that the cast and crew are already busy on the third instalment and we should be getting it some time next year. This is a no-brainer for football fans, and for others this is simply a much closer look at England best loved sport.

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