Shank (18)

Film

Thrillers

Wayne Virgo 2.jpg

Time Out rating:

<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5

User ratings:

<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5
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Time Out says

Tue Sep 8 2009

Shot and performed by a crew with an average age of 19 – under the tutelage of experienced DIY filmmakers Christian Martin and Robert Shulevitz – ‘Shank’ feels like a student film gone a bit berserk.

Structured around a sweet romance between coke-snorting, self-hating hoodie-on-the-run Cal (Wayne Virgo) and flighty French student Olivier (Marc Laurent), the film draws on timely issues of class struggle and criminal violence to build a convincing picture of gay life at street level.

It’s all rather worthy and simplistic, relying on hackneyed depictions of cellphone-wielding happy-slappers and graffitied backstreets. The cast is patchy at best, notably Cal’s stereotypical thug-life cronies, but Virgo grounds the proceedings with a compelling central turn.

Martin and Shulevitz’s script is nicely constructed, with a few well-judged – if overcooked – last act revelations. Overall, ‘Shank’ has a lot more to say than the average no-budget gangland exposé, resulting in a film which, for all its clichés, feels surprisingly real.
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Release details

Rated:

18

UK release:

Fri Sep 11 2009

Duration:

88 mins

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Comments & ratings

Rated as: 3/5 (14 ratings)
  • When was this made, 1987? Like the world will be like this in 3 years? Tedious contrived cliched rubbish... You can tell most of the actors are just out of drama school and putting on the south london dialect too... fake patois .. yuk

    anna Fri Nov 23 2012
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  • BRILLIANT AND WELL-ACTED!

    JHUN CALVIN Sun Feb 19 2012
    Rated as: 5/5
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  • 2 words describe this film perfectly FUCKING SHIT

    killz Sun Sep 11 2011
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  • there are two british films named shank... imagine forcing someone to watch both back to back clockwork orange style? a truly shit film.... i can't emphasize more how utter shit this movie is. should be used as a case study for how not to make movies... the kentucky fried pigeon part was funny tho

    richard Mon Dec 27 2010
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  • It was the best gay film I seen since Noah's Arc & Queer as Folk and it was so raw and real! Great Job!!. Hat off to Wayne Virgo for making it feel real.

    wimberman Mon Dec 27 2010
    Rated as: 5/5
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  • A waste of time. I still would view it if you havent seen it just to get an impression of how utterly appauling some films can be. The plot was very basic and boring, it seemed to get alot worse as it went on. It was such a poor script , i wonder why they bothered. What was all this weird futuristic computer game stuff aswell, and that weird dancing they were all doing somewhere in the begining.

    ahmed rakim Sun Nov 21 2010
    Rated as: 1/5
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  • This piece of shit should've never made it to dvd..... It should have went too bbc or sum'n

    vicdamone404atl Fri Jul 30 2010
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  • The shittiest movie I want my money, I wouldn't even bootleg this piece of shit. I'd rather the first power ranger episode than this shit

    vicdamone404atl Fri Jul 30 2010
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  • the fiml's sikk x

    seriish Thu Jun 17 2010
    Rated as: 5/5
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  • Oh, fuck off 'Charley'!! No-one needz your negativitey-so go whisper it to yourself when your wankin' instead of teelin' us!! Guyz igmore dis joker-I LOVED IT-WELL DONE!!! XxXxX

    Amber Thu May 6 2010
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