G.B.H.

2013 "London Burns. Choose your side."
4.7| 1h24m| R| en
Details

Damien, a London copper has a past he's trying to forget. Before joining the force he ran with a football firm, getting involved in tear-ups up and down the country. Now he's on the other side of the law and faces a tough decision, side with his old crew or protect London as it burns and rioters run amok. Falling in love with fellow cop Louise, he is quickly alerted to a street-level uprising that is about to shake London. Amidst the brutalities presented by the riots, he fights for justice at Louise's expense. Having been raped by a rioter known to him, Damien finds himself levelling with the rioters, fighting a war he cannot win, as much against the rioters as against himself.

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Reviews

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
kosmasp Not the rating here on IMDb at this moment. Though it's higher than the 3 points/stars that another reviewer mentioned I was surprised this being under 5 at the time of writing. But I guess people might get fed up with movies about hooligans (though to reduce this to just that would be unfair to the movie).Maybe it's the time-line and the jumping around events that got people annoyed, it's tough to say. Though I have to admit the "german" title for the movie is pretty "simple" - London Pitbulls - I don't think it makes any difference in the rating here. The main actor might not always be up to the task (a bit over the top, not enough charisma to pull certain things off), but the story itself is still worth watching
Rich Wright Another movie designed to get the London Tourist Bureau running for the hills. it is supposedly set during the big riots we experienced three years ago. In reality though, only the final scenes touch upon that major incident. Instead, we follow the life of a former hooligan now turned cop, and his attempts to juggle his new job with his old loutish friends, who either see him as a sell out, or a person who they can extract favours from.There are about as many surprises here as finding a plastic toy in a Kinder Egg, as our anti-hero experiences the predictable dual pressures of dealing with human trash on the beat, and even worse garbage in the form of his 'mates' off it. How any right minded person would want to spend five seconds in the company of his former buddies I don't know, but at least he's making a bit of an effort to get away from them.They are many, many breaks in the action to inform us that one scene took place ONE WEEK AGO, ONE HOUR AGO etc. You can tell it's trying to pretend it's telling a complex story, but this mediocre script is clearly nothing of the sort. Delusions of grandeur, perhaps. It's watchable, it's efficient, but aside from a rather upsetting sequence involving a serious assault on a female officer, there's little here to stir the imagination.Even the Downer Ending has been done to death in this genre. As soon as our rogue lawman gets that look in his eyes, there's only one possible conclusion. So... file under 'average'. 5/10
TheLittleSongbird 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
m-elle-kat Don't let the bad rating deter you from seeing this film. I didn't have high expectations for this film but it turned out to be very good. It is a VERY depressing and disturbing film and really made my blood boil (especially the rape scene.) It reveals the grisly and nasty depravity that exists on the streets of London (mainly in the 'pleb'ian class.) I really hope that circumstances aren't as bad as depicted because it makes Jane and Finch look like Mr. Rogers neighbourhood. I remember the stories my teachers told us when they taught in England. They told horror stories of kids who were unfathomably violent and grotesque. England and Canada have very different cultures in some ways. I don't believe all of England is like this, probably big cities and whatnot. The level of depravity demonstrated in this film is very disturbing. Craftful way of arranging the sequences. Excellent acting. Overall, it makes you think about a lot of things, which is a very good thing.