Fuze - Review 

Rating: 3 out of 5

DAVID Mackenzie has previously delivered top drawer thrillers Hell or High Water and Starred Up, which made the prospect of Fuze highly enticing.

Yet while certainly not in the same category as those two films, his latest zips along at a cracking pace, maintains a good mix of tension and action and throws in plenty of decent twists guaranteed to keep viewers guessing.

The film kicks off with the discovery of a new unexploded Second World War bomb at a construction site in London, which prompts an evacuation of the surrounding area under the command of a military bomb expert (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) working with the local police (headed up by Gugu Mbatha-Raw).

The bomb threat provides a distraction for a secret heist led by Theo James and Sam Worthington, while also threatening the imminent flight of one of the evacuee families, headed by a man named Rahim (Elham Ehsas).

It’s obvious these various plot strands will come together at some point but, thanks to Ben Hopkins taut script, it’s difficult to figure out exactly how.

And Mackenzie keeps things moving at a deliberately brisk pace, seldom allowing the tension or the action to dissipate long enough for any plot holes (of which there are several) to properly reveal themselves.

The result is a propulsive thriller that offers huge fun while it lasts, as well as some decent performances from its high calibre cast.

Taylor-Johnson is probably the pick of the bunch, infusing enough complexity and ambiguity into his character to suggest motivations beyond merely decommissioning the bomb. He’s suitably muscular when he needs to be (demonstrating a 007-style physicality) while also edgy and damaged, befitting his sometimes rogue decision-making and trauma-inflicted attitude.

But James (another 007 contender) is also nicely duplicitous, while keeping his cards close to his chest and sporting a believable South African accent, and Worthington brings urgency and a rough, unpredictable edge to his bank job accomplice - clearly not trusting in his partner at all.

That said, Mbatha-Raw is under-used as the police liaison, often being led up blind alleys without really contributing anything really meaningful, and Ehsas could have used a little more time to explore his character’s motivations, especially given the political backdrop to the eventual revelations surrounding him.

But this is where Fuze deviates significantly from, say, Hell or High Water - which managed to be both a five-star thriller that also offered piercing political and social insight.

Taken on its own merits, Fuze is a fun ride while it lasts, offering easy on the eye escapism and plenty of energy. But it ultimately disappears from memory a little too quickly given the talents involved.

Certificate: 15

Running time: 97mins