Aaron Taylor Johnson, Theo James and Sam Worthington star in the crime thriller FUZE.
FUZE is the sort of crime thriller that Director David Mackenzie excels at. One that at face value is an efficiently told heist film with tense set pieces. Underneath the surface is a cannily twisty narrative that elevates its B-Movie plot.
A WW2 Bomb is found at a construction site in London. Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his bomb disposal unit is called in and the area is evacuated. As Tranter and his team begin to attempt to defuse the bomb. A crew of criminals (led by Sam Worthington and Theo James) begin to work on gaining access to bank vault. Things go wrong, or do they, and the bomb explodes. The explosion leads to chaos as the criminals flee and must contend with their own double and triple crossing. Though as police Chief Superintendent Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) begins to investigate not all is it appears with the bomb. As everyone closes in on their goals everything is thrown off its axis as everyone appears to have their own goals.
Yes, there are issues with the film if one looks too closely at the plot (e.g., how convenient the construction site is so close to the exact bank they want/need to rob) but if one is in the bag for the movie, it’s a fun better than average thriller. The film is built more on tension than actual action set pieces (less akin to something like Den of Thieves or even Mackenize’s own Hell or High Water) but the tension and rapid pace make up for that. Running a lean and mean 96 minutes the film has zero fat and is all the better for it. Mackenize and screenwriter Ben Hopkins have crafted a film that knows the right dips and swerves to make and how to use those for maximum effect.
The three leads are solid. Johnson and Worthington both not having to use American accents only adding to the benefit of their more natural performances. Theo James is continuing to get a boost from his work on The Gentleman though this is nowhere near as good as that Guy Ritchie produced show. The weak link is Gugu Mbatha-Raw who is stranded with the thankless role of clueless police officer. She spends the entire last twenty minutes looking befuddled and mystified by all of the reveals. It is more a defect of the screenplay than her performance.
FUZE is a entertaining ride and well worth taking especially if you’re a fan of a good B-Movie crime thriller.
Aaron Taylor Johnson, Theo James and Sam Worthington star in the crime thriller FUZE.
FUZE is the sort of crime thriller that Director David Mackenzie excels at. One that at face value is an efficiently told heist film with tense set pieces. Underneath the surface is a cannily twisty narrative that elevates its B-Movie plot.
A WW2 Bomb is found at a construction site in London. Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his bomb disposal unit is called in and the area is evacuated. As Tranter and his team begin to attempt to defuse the bomb. A crew of criminals (led by Sam Worthington and Theo James) begin to work on gaining access to bank vault. Things go wrong, or do they, and the bomb explodes. The explosion leads to chaos as the criminals flee and must contend with their own double and triple crossing. Though as police Chief Superintendent Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) begins to investigate not all is it appears with the bomb. As everyone closes in on their goals everything is thrown off its axis as everyone appears to have their own goals.
Yes, there are issues with the film if one looks too closely at the plot (e.g., how convenient the construction site is so close to the exact bank they want/need to rob) but if one is in the bag for the movie, it’s a fun better than average thriller. The film is built more on tension than actual action set pieces (less akin to something like Den of Thieves or even Mackenize’s own Hell or High Water) but the tension and rapid pace make up for that. Running a lean and mean 96 minutes the film has zero fat and is all the better for it. Mackenize and screenwriter Ben Hopkins have crafted a film that knows the right dips and swerves to make and how to use those for maximum effect.
The three leads are solid. Johnson and Worthington both not having to use American accents only adding to the benefit of their more natural performances. Theo James is continuing to get a boost from his work on The Gentleman though this is nowhere near as good as that Guy Ritchie produced show. The weak link is Gugu Mbatha-Raw who is stranded with the thankless role of clueless police officer. She spends the entire last twenty minutes looking befuddled and mystified by all of the reveals. It is more a defect of the screenplay than her performance.
FUZE is a entertaining ride and well worth taking especially if you’re a fan of a good B-Movie crime thriller.
FUZE is only in theaters on April 24th
Share this:
Like this:
Discover more from The Movie Isle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.