In 1995, actor Phil Davis, perhaps best known for his work with Mike Leigh and a turn in Alan Clarke’s The Firm, directed ID – like The Firm an admirably beady yet brutal look at football hooliganism as seen through the eyes of an undercover cop. Twenty-one years later, here comes this sequel of sorts, which shares little with its predecessor apart from screenwriter Vincent O’Connell, a cameo from Perry Fenwick (EastEnders’ Billy Mitchell) and a similar premise, updated for 2016. Once again, a policeman infiltrates the followers of fictitious London club Shadwell to uncover ties to far-right factions and the criminal underworld. The twist is that this time the hero (Simon Rivers) is himself of Pakistani descent, although he’s posing to the gang as a Sikh, professing to have just as big a grudge against Muslims as they do. Conceptually, the precarious core conceit might have worked, but the handling falls back on cliches too often, and Rivers makes for a lumpen, dull lead.
