I like Combo - Shocker

[carolyn]

What struck me about Combo was his perception of his night with Lol, compared to hers. He thought it was beautiful and he had thought of nothing since and she said that she had been trying to forget it ever since and that she was 16 and drunk when it happened and hardly thought the experience was beautiful.

Carolyn x

[jill]

carolyn said:

What struck me about Combo was his perception of his night with Lol, compared to hers. He thought it was beautiful and he had thought of nothing since and she said that she had been trying to forget it ever since and that she was 16 and drunk when it happened and hardly thought the experience was beautiful.

Carolyn x

SPOILER

For me, that scene in the car (including how Combo reacts after Lol's left) was one of the two or three most powerful scenes in the film-and, again, the raw emotion that Stephen Graham portrayed was just extraordinary. From the other 'clues' in the film, it seems it was one more painful rejection in a lifetime of painful rejections. And yes, it shows Combo's humanity-he's no psychopath, he hurts too much. When I watched that scene for the first time I wondered how the inevitable anger that would follow would play out and thought at first that maybe Lol would be on the receiving end......I think Combo's misperception says a lot about how he relates to other people and at that moment he is a very tragic figure.

[zowey]

morell said:

I just watched this again for the second time last night. I just realised that although he's despicable and cowardly I really like Combo.

***Spoiler***

I see so many likeable qualities in him it's disturbing. We get to see his loyalty as a friend. His pride in his country. Passion in his love for Lol. Remorse for verbal and physical attacks on Milky a protective nature over Shaun.We also get to see a sensitive sad side to him in his vulnerability to Lols rejection and jealousy towards Milky's idilic familly life.

I wonder is this deliberate on the Part of Shane and Stephen Graham or am I just misguided? Did anyone else feel this?

My father (Eden who moaned about no lambretta's and vespa's) said that alot of people from the time that this is england was based on was like that.

One minute they were fine and the next they had flipped. But also combo had been smoking pot before hand, which you know could have affect the combo's emotions - If you understand where im coming from.

But i loved combo in the film, next to shaun he was my favourite character !!!

[xXxgirlgirlgirl151515xXx]

i dont like him how can anyone like him?

[xXxgirlgirlgirl151515xXx]

i thought he has a little bit hot but thats about it

[GR]

Yeah, I wouldn't say he was a likable guy (charismatic and handsome as he was); but I admired that he was at least a complex character.

He could've been played as a one-dimensional racist monster -- as I've seen in plenty of American movies -- but I'm glad that both Graham's performance and Meadows' screenplay resisted that too-easy route.

I didn't necessarily approve of Combo's rants, but I could still sense the frustration and fear behind the things he said and did; and I liked that he was allowed to show feelings of vulnerability (especially in that scene with Lol), sympathy (such as when he learns that Shaun is fatherless, and he becomes a sort of father-figure to the boy), and remorse (particularly after his last scene with Milky). Of course, I wouldn't say these features completely redeem Combo, but without them, it would be a total mystery how Shaun could be drawn to the guy.

[anonlytwin]

definitely a very human character and this breeds a sense of recognition... likeable is a little harder to argue imo... i sure wouldn't like to hang out with him put it that way.. i wish i'd known about this post earlier, a whole chapter of my thesis attempts to engage with this idea (although i'm talking about the camaraderie etc of the lads in dms) good post mos def

[bigboyjim]

First impressions of Combo as he enters the party - loveable. Further on in the scene, talking about his prison experiences, refering to black/coloured people as wogs - hateful. In his flat, where he tries to win Woody, Shaun and the gang to his views - beyond hate. But its the way he uses Milky for forgiveness that really grabbed me, how he goes on about he was an original skinhead whilst getting stoned, and then turns on Milky. That was simple - Milky has a culture that he was born in whilst Combo has nothing to refer to but hate.