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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I only saw 'Shank' a few weeks ago but for the moment it's my favourite gay-related film.People used to the powerhouse special effects of Hollywood could be disappointed, but people who can appreciate lower-budget film could find a little masterpiece in this one. Considering that most of the actors are young newcomers, the director is 21 years old and created on a very low-budget, this is a really well-done film worth watching.The story is fairly straightforward and not complicated to follow. It also doesn't hide anything, sexually or violently. The characters are well developed for the most part. The main character Cal successfully makes you feel different gambits of emotions, from hating him and despising him, to liking him and rooting for him. Wayne Virgo is very convincing as badboy Cal.The others characters are interesting as well. Tom Bott as Jonno, the macho yet vulnerable gang leader. Alice Payne as Nessa, a controlling broad with a mean streak. A lot of people claim that Marc Laurent as Olivier was the weaker character. While I agree, I still give him credit for doing the sex scenes (he was apparently very nervous) and later in the film his fear and panic seems pretty realistic to me.There are a few minor things I didn't like. The 'love-at-first-sight' relationship between Cal and Olivier (they're really different archetypes). Some things are a little too subtle as well; early in the film, Nessa attacks a girl seemingly out of nowhere for no apparent reason. Only after watching the film a few times did I understand why she did it (without spoiling it for you :) 'Shank' was a gritty, different type of gay movie from the norm out there. It has a good build-up, a good climax and a couple of twists at the end (you may or may not see them coming). Not for the weak of heart, but otherwise I definitely recommend it!

As a review of the film, I must at this time address the method of criticism. Numerous people responding to the film do not address the issue of gangs in postmodern times. In fact the term "gang" and what a gang is has evolved from the 1930 to present day (Rail, 1998). The idea of gangs overseas is completely different from the idea of gangs from that of the United States and the United Kingdom. Even the idea of gangs in London has changed (McDonald, 2010). For this very reason, it is unreasonable to assume that the definition of a gang today is the same as in the 1930's for example.Today has a different definition of what a gang is (Donahue & Willis, eds., 2002). Thus, I must address a more problematic issue with reviews on here. They are don't deal with the concepts of the historical and political environment of the film. This concept is a theory call New Historicism and Cultural Criticism (Tyson, 2006). Even Queer Theory, which addresses this issue, has yet to flesh itself out in the realm of New Historicism and Cultural Criticism.Now we need to deal with the issue of gender and sexuality. In fact, gender and sexuality has been under the gaze of Queer Theorists for a very long time, especially the 1990's (Butler, 2006). This is a reason why "gang" has different meanings. We even have people fighting back at the idea of "Queer," even in academia (Balswick & Balswick, 2008). For this reason, it is necessary to completely understand that it is unfair to place an unreasonable standard on this film.The film does reflect the issues of Queering gang related issues. This includes numerous issues of equality. It doesn't hide the concept of drugs and sex. For this reason, I praise the film for its delivery. Many expect the chemistry to be the protagonist and antagonist to fall in blind-love with each other. This is by far not the case. Thus, it is unfair to say that tension doesn't exist.The disjointed issues of the movie deal with the disjoint concepts of reality. It is Queer Realism Fiction in a film that I praise on numerous levels – including breaking ground is pushing it mainstream. I can call this the Gang Queer Realism version of "Rounding Third," by Walter G. Meyer.However, my issue is that the film crew should know that in Realism Fiction, the use of any special effects should be minimum.References Balswick, J. K., & Balswick, J. O. (2008). Authentic human sexuality: An integrated Christian approach. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. Butler, J. (2006). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York, NY: Routledge. Donahue, S., & Willis, C. (Eds.). (2002). Gangs: Stories of life and death from the streets. New York, NY: Thunder Mouth Press. McDonald, B. (2010). Gangs of London: 100 years of mob warfare. Wrea Green, UK: Milo. Paris, J. W. (2011). The end of sexual identity: Why sex is too important to define who we are. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books. Rail, G. (1998). Sport and postmodern times. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Tyson, L. (2006). Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide. New York, NY: Routledge.

When I was a student (couple of years ago) this film hit the rounds with student groups as a film to watch...and it was universally admired for it's honest and compelling narrative. Plot holes and flaws aside (quite possibly due to budget constraints) in some of the coincidences it still manages to pack a punch and moves with a pace reserved for action films of considerably higher budgets. The DVD extras included a 30 minute making of which gave unique insight into the reasoning behind the production and the genuine intent of cast and crew alike. I'm not gay but you don't have to be to see this film. It is a youthful honest film. A good watch and definitely worth a view. 10 scored because some of the reviewers here are being just idiotically mean and vindictive - in my opinion had the writers been given the budget of say Attack the Block or the other SHANK then this would have been even better than it is....possibly some of the comments are coming from the minds of those who mistook it for the other SHANK and weren't expecting a gay hero!It's the 21st Century people - this should have been widely distributed and supported and I say that as a Brit who appreciates British talent.

This was so boring and predictable I couldn't get through it. Nor, dare I say it, was it very responsible(is the idea of film-makers being responsible so very shocking? probably yes.)90 minutes of young muscle-boys who beat people up to a groovy hip hop backing track is hardly going to dissuade impressionable youngsters. One is reminded of the Heroin Screws You Up campaign of the early 80s which actually managed to increase drug consumption by presenting dope-takers in all too glamorous a light. And why bother with such a predictable storyline anyway? All the the makers this sort of pova-porn are interested in really is that age-old middle-class luvvie fantasy of working class boys shagging each other. Why not come clean and make a porno? And I'm not impressed either that the director is 'just21'. For a child to be capable of making this cack is the most depressing thing about it.One of the leads appeared to be some sort of art history lecturer- in that repsect at least,the scriptwriters clearly know what they're talking about. It's so dreadfully authentic darling!