Will the movie set to score with Liverpool FC fans

The opening feels a bit like an adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel. Dark scenes filmed in a boys’ boarding school have a real feel of Fagan and his boys about them – except for the fact that Will is surrounded by nuns, Liverpool FC posters and his mate Simon (Kieran Wallbanks) who knows everything about Einstein.

The death toll certainly keeps up with Dickens’ style; one boy even gets blown up! But it’s the death of Will’s dad, Gareth (Damian Lewis), that blows the whistle on their plans to see the Liverpool vs AC Milan final showdown together.

It’s left up to Will to find his own way to Turkey and he wastes no time in hopping into the back of a lorry to start his journey through Europe – much to this dismay of his teacher Sister Carmel (Alice Krige).

Groans from dads and football fans alike when Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard make cameo appearances will probably go over little boys’ heads. Kids will be far more interested in the roar of the stadium and Will’s panic as he learns the tickets his dad had bought for them are actually fake.

The necessity of explaining the death of his mother and subsequently his father slows the beginning of the movie down, but it’s important information to understand Will’s urgent desire to get to Istanbul. Will’s language probably deserved a yellow card here and there too.

All in all this is a fun film for football fans who would do anything to see their idols play. The movie carries a PG certificate and is probably better suited to kids around the 10-year-old plus mark as the plot contains a few darker themes that won’t keep little ones very interested.

Does Will make it to the stadium in time to see the game? You better don your Liverpool FC shirt and head to a cinema near you from November 4th onwards to find out.

Warning: you’ll have Liverpool’s anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in your head for at least three hours after the movie…