''Will'' is a 2011 British sports drama directed by Ellen Perry and starring

Damian Lewis Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is a British actor, musician and producer. He rose to prominence portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers''. Lewis won a Prime ...

, Perry Eggleton and

Bob Hoskins Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor and film director. Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters, he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough pl ...

Plot

The film centres on the trials and tribulations in the lives of two main fictional characters: eleven-year-old Will Brennan and Bosnian footballer Alek, and their trek to see

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

play

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in the 2005 Champions League Final at the

Atatürk Olympic Stadium The Atatürk Olympic Stadium (, ) is a stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Located in the western district of Başakşehir, it is the largest-capacity stadium in the country. The stadium is named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first Pre ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Brennan is Liverpool's number one fan, able to recite facts ad infinitum about the club. He attends and boards at a public school in the south of England since his father Gareth (Damian Lewis) is emotionally unable to care for him following the death of Will's mother. Gareth appears one day out of the blue with tickets for Liverpool's trip to the Champions League Final. Unknown to Will, his father has health problems and suddenly dies. Will thinks that the adults in his life are conspiring to quash his wish to get to the match to honour his father. Two of his mates at school decided to start Will on his way for reason of their own. The school reports Will missing, which becomes worldwide news. along the way, he encounters others who support Liverpool or the game of football. One of these is Alek, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The Bosnian man had stopped playing the sport following a tragic incident because of his actions in his hometown during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

. Alek is initially reluctant to get involved, but a friend encourages him to recover from his personal demons by helping Will reach his destination. The two are off on the final leg of the journey, stopping along the way in Alek's hometown, where they elude police. They reach Istanbul but do not have tickets for the match. Liverpool stars

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,Jamie Carragher recognise Alek and come to the rescue, making it possible for Will to realise his dream. His experiences have been even larger than he could have imagined, given his father's original plans. At the end of the movie, it was revealed that Liverpool won the tournament after winning 3–2 on penalties after a 3–3 draw in 90 minutes and extra time.

Partial cast

Filming locations

The production filmed in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in May 2010 at the Port of Ramsgate, the

Port of Dover The Port of Dover is a cross-channel ferry, cruise terminal, maritime cargo and marina facility situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime pas ...

and the

White Cliffs of Dover The White Cliffs of Dover are the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, depo ...

. These locations are featured at the start of Will's journey to

. He smuggles onto a freight lorry in order to cross the sea to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a score of 0% based on 5 critic reviews.

References

External links