Simon is your average every day Joe who works in sales (a job he hates) though he does have a steady home life with his wife/partner Sarah. Simon decides that he needs to get fit and joins a gym where he is quickly taken under the wing of Terry. Initially Simon is grateful for Terry's help, but this help comes at a cost as Simon's life slowly begins to spiral out of control...
Muscle is a relatively interesting film (focussing on a man who becomes semi-obsessed with getting fit, whilst still going out boozing and trying to have a home life with Sarah). Simon could just about manage to juggle the latter 2 elements, but throwing a third component in the mix seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
This all proves too much for Sarah and she promptly leaves Simon and isn't seen or heard from again. Upon learning this, Terry offers to move in with Simon to help him out of the financial burden that Sarah leaving has bestowed upon Simon. This, for me, is when we start to really see Terry's true colours; he's something of a control freak and a manipulator. He doesn't like Simon doing anything that doesn't involve him (and makes this clear on several occasions). I'm fairly sure the drug he gave Simon had violence as one of its side effects (his violent outburst at work cost Simon his job which meant he was ultimately dependent on Terry) increasing Terry's element of control.
From this point onwards, Simon is estranged from his friends and starts doing shady work for Terry; by this point Simon wants out, but can't seem to find a way to remove himself from Terry's influence.
What I will say about this film is that it keeps building and building and when we start to learn more about Terry the film really was starting to turn a corner, but it is single-handedly ruined by the ending; it just stops without explaining anything? What had gone on in Terry's past? Why did he target Simon? The police seemed to know him under his real name of Trevor Richards, but don't explain how they know him or what he had been convicted for in the past?
Despite solid performances from Craig Fairbrass and Cavan Clerkin, the whole production is undermined by the lame ending (if you can even call it an ending). Maybe the filmmakers were concerned about the film's running time (which comes in close to 2 hours) and just thought "Hey let's wrap it up here", but for me they could have trimmed some of the middle of the film (the numerous orgies were repetitive and didn't add a great deal) and perhaps spent more time examining Terry's character and background - he's an interesting character who sadly wasn't explored or examined enough in my opinion.
There was a lot of potential here which unfortunately was wasted which is a great shame.
Muscle is a relatively interesting film (focussing on a man who becomes semi-obsessed with getting fit, whilst still going out boozing and trying to have a home life with Sarah). Simon could just about manage to juggle the latter 2 elements, but throwing a third component in the mix seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
This all proves too much for Sarah and she promptly leaves Simon and isn't seen or heard from again. Upon learning this, Terry offers to move in with Simon to help him out of the financial burden that Sarah leaving has bestowed upon Simon. This, for me, is when we start to really see Terry's true colours; he's something of a control freak and a manipulator. He doesn't like Simon doing anything that doesn't involve him (and makes this clear on several occasions). I'm fairly sure the drug he gave Simon had violence as one of its side effects (his violent outburst at work cost Simon his job which meant he was ultimately dependent on Terry) increasing Terry's element of control.
From this point onwards, Simon is estranged from his friends and starts doing shady work for Terry; by this point Simon wants out, but can't seem to find a way to remove himself from Terry's influence.
What I will say about this film is that it keeps building and building and when we start to learn more about Terry the film really was starting to turn a corner, but it is single-handedly ruined by the ending; it just stops without explaining anything? What had gone on in Terry's past? Why did he target Simon? The police seemed to know him under his real name of Trevor Richards, but don't explain how they know him or what he had been convicted for in the past?
Despite solid performances from Craig Fairbrass and Cavan Clerkin, the whole production is undermined by the lame ending (if you can even call it an ending). Maybe the filmmakers were concerned about the film's running time (which comes in close to 2 hours) and just thought "Hey let's wrap it up here", but for me they could have trimmed some of the middle of the film (the numerous orgies were repetitive and didn't add a great deal) and perhaps spent more time examining Terry's character and background - he's an interesting character who sadly wasn't explored or examined enough in my opinion.
There was a lot of potential here which unfortunately was wasted which is a great shame.