Customer Reviews

Shank

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A poignant reminder that in the 21st century, post Ellen and post Will and Grace time, there are still people for whom struggling with their sexuality and coming out is a painful and sometimes life threatening situation. An all too often truth about inner city youth around the globe. The story is filled with an extreme amount of violence and unfortunately it is not hard to believe that there are people struggling in situations like this every day.
I am glad that I watched it and would gladly recommend it to a friend.

Awesome, awesome.

Wayne Virgo's performance is absolutely fantastic. The story line is perfect, and this is not your run of the mill gay love story.

It helps the guys are hot and there's plenty of very well-done sex scenes, but you stop caring about that half way through.

The opening credits is very different, but you need to watch it. Remember, it is a made in England so might be strange at first, but is well worth the effort. This is truly a story which could happen in almost any country and am am sure really has happened often. The acting is very good with violence, sex and a mix of both throughout the movie. Be prepared for strange twists in the story line as they make the movie better as it is view. Love, hate and love/hate are all part of this fine movie. Watch it. You will be glad you did.

I only write this to say thanks to the positive reviews on this page. I was initially put off getting this as there were so many negative posts regarding this film. But a mate got it for me and I thought it was a quietly brilliant film that truly deserved more attention.

The plot loosely, is a gang from Bristol do vicious and sadistic so called 'happy slapping' and film it on their mobiles, they are a dysfunctional generally unlikeable lot held together by an invisible bond seemingly based on mutual violence and fear of the female `leader'.

The main character Cal, stops a French exchange student getting a kicking and is thus ousted from the gang. He then ends up having a relationship with Olivier, but his former gang mates will not let matters rest there. The reasons reveal themselves in a manner of ways and at a rate that does not undermine the main storyline. His best mate from the gang is particularly vicious about the 'betrayal' of turning out 'queer', but as Quentin Crisp once said 'some roughs are pretty queer and some queers are pretty rough'.

Some of the detractors are right in that some of the characters are overly stereo typical and there are more coincidences than a Dickens melodrama. Also suspend belief at someone gaining access to a computer quicker than a super hero. However, this is a shoe string budget effort which is watchable, well acted and actually moving in parts. And it is an indie British flick not based in London and should be lauded for that if nothing else. The sex scenes have been called soft porn by some reviewers but they just felt natural given the content and circumstances in which they take place. If you are wavering about whether to get/see this or not I urge you to give 'Shank' a go and hopefully like me you will find it very much worth the effort.

What a pleasant surprise after so many bad mano & mano films.
Why are there so few good ones? It makes me want to become a producer just so I can help the genre out... Is it really that hard to make a good gay film. Well Shank & Boy Culture show that it can be done.
The english accents at the beginning of Shank are a bit rough, but you really don't have understand what they are saying to get the gist of what is going on. Got to give perks to the lead female for her acting, I really wanted to crawl into the movie and hurt her, so she was pretty good at being a bitch. But the male actors , well they were outstanding & did I mention hot, hot, hot! Especially the lead.
I could go on, but I'll stop so you can press the appropriate buttons to start viewing the movie immediately. i might have to buy this one. Enjoy!

Shank is a movie of heartbreak and love.
Shank is a movie of violence and sexual desire.
Shank is filled with terror, fear and confusion.

As the film begins we see the normal guy on guy pick up.
They find a place to park; have sex and then the violence.
The younger guy head butts the slightly older guy
Leaving him bleeding in the woods without his cell phone.

A new student arrives and we find the guy left in the woods
Is actually a teacher who has the new foreign student in his class.
When he sees the new student with the guy that head butted him
He tries to warn the student and gives him his phone number.
He takes it without a second thought thinking he'll never need it.

The new student falls in love with the violent guy.
They begin to share the foreign student's apartment.
Life is good and they both are happy; all is lovely.
Until, the gang finds the phone that has video
Of the 2 guys at the beginning having sex
That's when all hell breaks loose.
That's when the phone number the teacher gave him
Comes into play and the movie turns to horror.

Will the teacher help his new student
Knowing he's going out with he guy who head butted him?
That is for you to see. But there is so much more.
I rented it on Video on Demand where it was lovely to watch.
My partner and I watched it over and over again.

Yes it's a rough movie to experience.
Yes there is sex for those interested, we were.
Yes it's a movie with a deep meaning and lesson for
Everyone out there to learn from, then enjoy.
I highly recommend Shank again and again.

~ Cornelius

This movie is in English, not German. It is also not a prison movie. It revolves around a gang in London and one of the members trying to break away to find himself.

Shank way exceeds expectations. It's packaged as yet another gaysploitation flick--which annoys the hell out of me. Is Brokeback Mountain strictly for the gay ghetto? Of course not. Anyone with a pulse and at least half a heart could relate and appreciate the film. Granted this is not Ang Lee directing Jake and Heath. Nonetheless director Simon Pearce has polished his chops on a lot of TV and tells a compelling, nuanced story successfully steering clear of the tiresome clichés of gay genre flicks. The young actors are entirely credible in their nicely fleshed out roles. True some of the young gang member supporting actors are a little rough around the edges and Alice Payne is truly awful, but the principle players--Wayne Virgo, Marc Laurent, and especially Gary Summers in a minor, but pivotal role--are all seriously good. This movie is all around a respectable piece of good work, even if the title Shank is grossly misleading and evocative of some prison-gang-rape-in-the-showers softcore crap. BTW, there is more than one male-on-male sex and nudity scene with a brief flash or 2 of full frontal, but well shot and not at all prurient nor exploitative. This is not a good gay movie. It's a good movie. Full stop.

Very intense movie that is witty and has a story that gets under the skin and takes a while to settle.

On this movie it was just a little graphic on the gay bashing. However I would say it was as good as to be expected from this movie. The last bashing and rape sceen was a little much, but very true I guess in telling the story. Over all i would say it was okay. Worth the 15 dollars I paid.