Watch G.B.H. For Free

I wanted to but couldn't!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

G.B.H wasn't entirely irredeemable, Nick Nevern did have a great brooding intensity that he brought to his lead character, and Kellie Shirley(whose acting has grown since her stint on EastEnders) is affecting. For me though, that's it for the saving graces. The rest of the acting is poor, Steven Berkoff for example doesn't seem to have a clue as to what to do and how to play his role. Though in all fairness they weren't helped at all by sketchily written characters that were largely sidelined throughout the film, the juiciest side character was Con O'Neill's but that is not saying very much. The dialogue resorts to a lot of clichéd banter, while the way G.B.H is shot looks cobbled together(like some of it was done in one stretch with a gap and then in another stretch after). And I do have to agree about the wildly inaccurate portrayal of the police force, it is not only inaccurate but completely unbelievable too. There was a good story in G.B.H somewhere, no matter how many times we've seen its plot points on other films and television shows, the structure was just so clumsy and disorganised with no tension that that potential didn't ever come out. It was also very difficult to be drawn in by, it was purposefully grim and bleak which is not a problem in any way, it was just dealt with in such a tedious and heavy-handed way that the tone was more wearying(and increasingly so) and overly-aggressive in alternative to tense and properly involving. Overall, apart from the leads I found it by difficult to be drawn in by G.B.H. 2/10 Bethany Cox

I saw G.B.H. at the film festival and found it to be very good. I think most people want to wrap things up in a neat box and make the police either good or bad. The police are just people, and they too can be effected by the stresses of everyday life. I found this film to portray this in a very realistic manner. Of course with all films that are of an indie nature, the budget is lower than those done by a studio. so you can somewhat see that in this film... but, it is really good, and has an effective method of building tension. I am glad to see that there are those out there that can think outside the box and show the human side of the police. If you are of a prudish nature, I am not sure you will like the film, but I don't think it's meant to offend, but rather to expand your mind. After seeing the film a couple of us talked about it for the next hour, and to me that is the keystone to a good film. So, if this film is available for you to see, I would recommend it very much.

Cinema always takes liberties with the truth but this film is just awful. The depiction of the Met Police is so wildly inaccurate it is almost laughable. Where do I start? Berkoff is far too old to play the senior police officer and his acting is confused and unconvincing.The police officers, supposedly in the same unit/division, have different shoulder flashes, one with CO and a number (which means commissioners office) and some with just a number. They seem to patrol huge swathes of the metropolis both as tactical support and ordinary beat bobbies. There is so much more that is badly researched and portrayed.If you can ignore all these howlers, you still have to believe that a football thug, with a father in prison, is a police officer. You can do that except for the fact he still has his only friends in that social setting and still acts like a thug when he is in the pub and around them.The final scene where he beats to death one of his old friends in front of another 10 or so, is just barking mad, as are the scenes where he gets people off, or gives prisoners a severe beating.I am not naive. Some of these things no doubt happen on rare occasions, but to have one rogue police officer commit so many offences is just totally unbelievable.The tragedy is, there is the germ of a good story here, but it is ruined by wooden acting, a poorly researched screenplay, jerky direction that lacks continuity or purpose and very poor production values.

As of this writing, this film is sitting at a sub-3 star rating. Seriously? Sure the film's got it's problems, but it's pretty well written, pretty well acted, and solidly put together. Maybe England is going through a rash of hooligan films that I'm not aware of and this was the straw that broke the camel's back? That...or people are just kind of idiots.OK, maybe idiots is a harsh term as there's no accounting for taste, but this film actually works pretty well on most levels. It moves along at a good clip, the characters develop well, and the story is though out. My only real gripe is the way the film jumps around between certain scenes. There's a bit of that "three weeks earlier" crap that makes it a bit hard to follow at times. But on the whole I'd say it's at least worth a watch.