Muscle

Watched this film over 3 days, bit baffled by it tbh as the story doesnt really go anywhere and the ending is pointless, was filmed in black an white which doesnt really add anything to the film apart from making it a bit more frustrating to watch.

An excellent subject matter and very thought provoking, at times. Then as the film enters the final turn, it high sides!!! What should of been an ending, any ending other than the limp, pathetic and absolutely ridiculous one given to us. It then becomes an absolute joke! The plot has many flaws but the ending is as if everyone involved contracted Covid-19 and had to self isolate. Don't waste your time, you will never get it back!!

And also an excellent character study, the tale of the transformation of a man, married with a wife with whom he shares nothing at all and who decides to find a purpose to live, besides his stressful job that always pressurizes him towards performance. The study of human relations, human behavior and pulled from an unusual angle. Craig Fairbrass is outstanding here, for once not in a bad ass role. It's not only a film about bodybuilding, as BODYBUILDER was, but a real drama that also speaks about this sport. It talks about anabolic steroid use in bodybuilding and the dramatic effects on human behavior. I was also amazed by the transformation of the actor playing Simon, I hardly recognized him after 40 minutes, honestly. But if you want to begin training in that sport, maybe this is not the best way to do it; watching this movie, I mean. It denounces a real aspect of bodybuilding, steroid abuse, and it insists heavily on that point. And not only, because it also suggests the fact that this sport stimulazes homosexuality. But I will remind this film as a story about treason, betrayal in friendship. Many things remain unexplained - what the photos are about, what kind of stuff Simon had to smuggle in France, steroids? - but it seems to be the director's trade mark, remember his previous flick HYENA; not the same story but same dark, gloomy, depressing atmosphere and the same directing lines.

This film really kept me gripped for the first two thirds of the film and was heading for a 7-8 rating particularly with the performance of Fairbrass who I'm a huge fan of.

However it is ruined by a pointless unsatisfactory ending that left me feeling hugely disappointed. It was as if the writer didn't know where to go with it and it peters out into nothing. I also dont understand why the film was done in black and white. Not sure what that added. Would have been better in colour.

A middle aged man crying on the way to a job he hates, is one of multiple images in this excellent nightmare that remains in the mind long after the film's end. Craig Fairbrass career best departure from 2 dimensional meatheat goons ,walks a line between being tender , menacing , funny and mysterious whilst Cavan Clerkin's metamorphosis is subtle and intriguing. There were so many opportunities where this film could have gone full blown Channel 5 after the plot was established, but it holds its nerve and stands its ground to remain original to the last scene. It's a very modern story which I'm sure will gather traction and status over the next few years as it is discovered. We must remember Sexy Beast was all but binned until other countries discovered it, it later was represented to us as a well loved classic. Without A listers to attract you, dream sequences to impress you , this black and white tale reveals much in the grey area for you and your friends to discuss. Excellent.