Great British film, real life and gritty!! It's great to see home grown talent in this honest, truthful British film.

"Hyena" is a punishingly bleak, violent trudge through a London underworld of sex traffickers, drug dealers, rapists, gangsters, and police who are indiscernible from them. It's the kind of thing that makes you feel dirty. It reminded me a little of that Aussie flick, "Snowtown", except that had a reason for existing, other than just the dubious pleasure of wallowing in the mire.Its protagonist is a crooked cop who cooperates, a little too helpfully, with gangsters involved in the traffic of sex slaves from the Balkans. At some point he may decide to redeem himself - or does he? It could be that that's just a cliché for movies like this, so we expect it, a la "Bad Lieutenant". He does try to help one of the sex slaves escape, but for the rest of the movie he is really just acting in his own interest.The movie doesn't bring you close enough to the character to make him interesting like in that movie, though, or other gritty character studies like "Pusher", or of course, the daddy of them all, "Taxi Driver". He's just another scum bag. If there is goodness in him, that makes him worse than the others. They don't know any better.The movie is continually violent and shocking, with dismemberments, decapitated heads, graphic rapes. It doesn't feel realistic or necessary. This movie is like a deliberately sick carnival ride going from one grotesque exhibition to the next. When it's over, the challenge is answered and you can get on with your day. It might shock you while it's happening but you won't be thinking about it for long afterwards.

Review: If you're fresh from watching other shoe-string, budget films from auteur-directors such as Loach, Leigh or Meadows, you can may be disappointed by Hyena's lack of depth, knowledge of film-theory, and its inability to push the calibre of actors (such as Stephen Graham) to their potential. Nevertheless, the narrative is gripping and the film quickly drags you to hell with it. Unrecognisable from his Nielson-esque portrayal in 'Tony'; Ferdinando's portrayal of bent-copper Michael is hugely exciting. The actor has a screen-presence that forgives some of the clumsier plot-devices and line-delivery, which often detract from the films strengths. Like Cimino and Cassavetes, the excellent use and direction of non- actors (mainly in the form of the Albanian-mafioso, antagonists), added the extra-dimension which 'Hyena' may have lacked otherwise. Elisa Lasowski's performance is also superb throughout.In terms of content, 'Hyena' should be commended for its unflinching look at the realities of modern London; policing, immigration and human trafficking. Equally in terms of form; for its long-takes, use of improvisation, realism, use of non-actors, powerful narrative and performances. Much like in 'Tony', Johnson's thematic and aesthetic portrayal of big-city isolation, alienation, paranoia and nihilism through a dirty glass is palpable; and should be commended. Both 'Tony' and 'Hyena' should have been given a lot more PR on its release, as well as the praise they deserves for its bravery and unflinching glance at a very modern London.

Michael is corrupt London CID Detective who runs a unit of equally bent Drug Squad officers. He is effectively a 'gangster with a badge', snorting cocaine seized in violent nightclub raids and with a growing underworld racket of his own. Investing a large sum into a prosperous drug smuggling operation, run by some Turkish criminals of whom Michael 'guarantees protection' to, the racket is moved-in on by a group of sadistic Albanian villains who take out Michael's Turkish associates, leaving him high and dry in the process. As Michael craftily uses his police powers to investigate the Albanian gang, he discovers their empire includes Human Trafficking.Michael's professional life becomes more and more complex, as he puts his resources into figuring out how to deal with the Albanians rather than investigating Drugs crimes, and in doing so he comes back into contact with a former adversary Detective Knight, who is officially in charge of the Human Trafficking investigation. Into the mix, Detective Inspector Taylor, an unrelenting officer has been placed by the internal affairs department to investigate Michael's activities for possible corruption. As Michael delves into the world of the Albanian criminals he meets Ariana, a young woman held captive by the gang and he rescues her, hiding her away at his girlfriend's house – an act of morality which ironically leads towards his own downfall."Hyena" is a great piece of cinema, handling the darker side of the London underworld and corrupt police units with a certain artistic style and atmosphere which feels fresh, while retaining an authenticity and grimness needed to keep the balance. It is though a remarkably violent film and certain scenes are too unpleasant to watch, but nevertheless "Hyena" is a tour de force of contemporary British cinema with a flare to offend, a pace to keep you watching, and a story to make you think.