And also an excellent character study, the tale of the transformation of a man, married with a wife with whom he shares nothing at all and who decides to find a purpose to live, besides his stressful job that always pressurizes him towards performance. The study of human relations, human behavior and pulled from an unusual angle. Craig Fairbrass is outstanding here, for once not in a bad ass role. It's not only a film about bodybuilding, as BODYBUILDER was, but a real drama that also speaks about this sport. It talks about anabolic steroid use in bodybuilding and the dramatic effects on human behavior. I was also amazed by the transformation of the actor playing Simon, I hardly recognized him after 40 minutes, honestly. But if you want to begin training in that sport, maybe this is not the best way to do it; watching this movie, I mean. It denounces a real aspect of bodybuilding, steroid abuse, and it insists heavily on that point. And not only, because it also suggests the fact that this sport stimulazes homosexuality. But I will remind this film as a story about treason, betrayal in friendship. Many things remain unexplained - what the photos are about, what kind of stuff Simon had to smuggle in France, steroids? - but it seems to be the director's trade mark, remember his previous flick HYENA; not the same story but same dark, gloomy, depressing atmosphere and the same directing lines.
Review of Muscle
