I am so glad I finally got around to watching this title. It is by far the most original film with a gay central character that I have seen in a long while and I have seen plenty. Usually I tend to migrate towards foreign language films exploring gay subjects because their cultural take on gay life is oftentimes quite specific and original. I did not expect such originality from a British film and I can't understand how I missed it. To the naysayers on here I despair - it takes a brave person to write so convincingly and powerfully on a subject not explored before. The depiction of personal hatred and societal hatred was palpable and real. The making of revealed the myriad sources from which the idea had been researched and the significance of this tour de force really hit home. OK some of the acting is not quite on a par with more experience actors but the genuine grit and conviction in the performances made up for these excusable inadequacies. 10 out of 10 quite simply British at it's best. I could go on but I realise I am gushing - but I have to try and counter so much negative nonsense on here. Buy it, don't rent it and don't steal it off an illegal site (like a certain person I know did) - these film makers deserve to get every penny for their effort in the vain hope they make something as good again....

A gripping if rather implausible story about a group of gay-bashing youths, this sustains interest until the ridiculous ending, when the director gathers up all the plot threads and, instead of weaving them together, ties them into a hopeless snarl. Not only does the last-minute plot revelation make no sense, it "explains" the characters in a very facile, film-school manner, when what makes the film frightening is the fact that we really CAN'T tell what motivates the young characters, and neither can they. They succumb to their worst violent/sexual urges without a second thought, because stopping to think would make their lives completely unbearable. This ending forces "meaning" on us in the way that second-rate well-made plays in the nineteenth century used to.I'm growing very tired of gay movies that feature their young heroes being raped and/or killed by straight oppressors (who rape them to prove they themselves aren't gay?) It's a cheap way for an artistically impoverished movie to be considered "daring" and "honest", when it really reveals very little. I've always been suspicious of the argument that gay-bashers are all closeted homosexuals striking out at what they fear in themselves (this view also weakened the ending of the otherwise excellent "Milk.")

I found this movie on Netflix and couldn't help but start watching it, the entire premise had sounded like it'd be a good movie, but i'll admit when I saw how low budget the indie flick had been I was a little nervous. Some movies, although a great premise, end up terrible due to their budget, so I expected the worst for this film! I am a sucker for all things low budget though, so I could not force myself to stop watching, and i'm glad I didn't because this movie was surprisingly good! When we were first introduced to Olivier I did NOT like him one bit, the character seemed too stuck up and just not someone I could wrap my finger around, and I was rooting for Cal and Jonno right from the beginning (when they were smoking in the car and got close like that I was like WOOHOO and rooting for one of them to just grab the other). Olivier's character did grow on me throughout the film, and in the end I loved the man and thought that him and Cal were very cute together. The directors and everyone did a great job portraying their relationship/romance, it was very nicely done and I definitely was glued to the screen watching it unfold.The female lead wasn't all that great, her acting bored me and I found myself being distracted with other things when she was on the screen. She tried too hard to play the "badass" role and she just couldn't live up to it, not in my opinion anyway. She did pull through in the end though, i'll give her that much, but that was like 30 seconds of good acting on her part so it's not that much of a compliment. The other actors weren't all that bad, but I will admit that the three lead males were impressive! Jonno was pulled off great, you could see the conflict in his eyes, and when he finds out about the baby at the end I think that emotion was pulled off perfectly. Very good acting on his behalf.I was impressed with the film, it did come together rather perfectly, and my emotions fell right in line with where they were supposed to be. I laughed when I was supposed to, was angry and upset when they wanted me to be, and sad of course when that was needed. The movie set me up and did a great job with impressing, and it's one that i'll most definitely be watching again!

So this film Shank…. I was round at a friends house one night and I must stress he his gay, now he knows that I'm not but I'm also very much into my films. With a huge smile on his face he hands me a DVD and told me not to ask any questions but just watch it and review it so here I am doing just that....For the first few scenes of this film it comes across as very graphic, I won't say exactly how graphic but let's just say in terms of films that have concentrated on subjects such as the one portrayed it's the most graphic I've seen. It's clearly stated in the summery and plot synopsis that it's about a lad that after a chance meeting hits off a relationship but not just that this film has such a strong message on the kinds of things young gay couples or teenagers who think they are gay go through when it comes to telling family members and friends.Yes this film is also very graphic in terms of violence, in fact the finale of this film was very graphic, in some ways I wish I could have turned it off but I continued watching for the fact that the story of fear, changes and the intense storyline makes you want to watch it through till the end but trust me when you do finally make it to the end there is one last twist which will leave an impact in different ways on different people. If you're gay, straight or even bi try and get a copy of this film, even if your friends take the mick out of you for doing so then once you've watched it convince them to watch it and trust me they'll see that this film is much more than just a film about a lad figuring out that he's gay, it's something much different.