Muscle

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Muscle

2019

1h 50m

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

100%

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10 Reviews

57%

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

An unhappy office worker's life is gradually taken over by Terry, his new, very hands-on personal trainer.

Ian Freer

Empire Magazine

Muscle takes the trappings of a macho crime flick and informs them with sensitivity and smarts, perfectly played by Cavan Clerkin and Craig Fairbrass. It packs all the punch and power of a whey protein shake.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 9, 2020

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Ellen E Jones

Guardian

This is Johnson's first film without his cousin and collaborator Peter Ferdinando in the starring role, but Muscle's two leads prove every bit as tuned into his uniquely bleak vision of male interaction.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 4, 2020

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Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

The B-list hard case and straight-to-video action star Craig Fairbrass (see the Rise of the Foot Soldier franchise) is utterly reinvented in this bleakly compelling drama about toxic masculinity run rampant.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 4, 2020

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Trevor Johnston

Radio Times

Nevertheless, this is a striking, distinctive vision of how far some men will go to overcompensate for their vulnerabilities.

Rated: 3/5

Jun 24, 2021

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

Striking monochrome cinematography lends a silvery edge to this low-budget British drama. So while the movie has the usual soapy crime-thriller tone, its ambitious imagery encourages the audience to look deeper.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 11, 2020

Full Review

David G. Hughes

electric ghost

A fraught, honest, and self-scrutinising working-out (quite literally in this case) of the ambivalence that many men have towards their own sense of manhood, agency, and self-worth.

Dec 6, 2020

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Tom D

A (very) poor mans Fight Club

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/25/24

Full Review

Samm S

A genuinely interesting film with a long and thoughtful setup, engaging with ideas of masculinity, emancipation and best laid plans going to waste. Mid way through the film you begin to understand the direction and path the plot is going to take and it really does become incredibly engaging. Cue a four minute house sex orgy with a thumping monotonous sound track which would've been extremely effective if it was 75% shorter. ‘Shock value' only works for as long as the audience is shocked, it wears a bit when the audience gets bored. It doesn't make it ‘arty'. The final act again ups the ante and seems like the plot is coming to a real crescendo, only for the writer to run out of printer ink and decide to cut the movie short in ten minutes of absolutely nonsensical scenes and character decisions which are completely out of place with the rest of the film. Worth a watch, but you will wonder why you sat down for nearly two hours to do it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/13/23

Full Review

Andrew F

Fantastic film. So realistic

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/27/23

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Gerard Johnson

Director

Lorraine Burroughs

Actor

Craig Fairbrass

Terry

Cavan Clerkin

Simon

Polly Maberly

Sarah

Sinead Matthews

Sandra

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Synopsis

An unhappy office worker's life is gradually taken over by Terry, his new, very hands-on personal trainer.

Director: Gerard Johnson
Producer: Ed Barratt, Frédéric Fiore, Matthew James Wilkinson
Screenwriter: Gerard Johnson
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: British English
Runtime: 1h 50m