Fuze, 2026.
Directed by David Mackenzie.
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Elham Ehsas, Sam Worthington, Shaun Mason, Nabil Elouahabi, Honor Swinton Byrne, Saffron Hocking, Laurie Duncan, Luke Mably, Iain Fletcher, Naveed Khan, Gilly Gilchrist, Alexander Arnold, Samuel Oatley, Matthew Earley, Atul Sharma, and Richa Prakash.
SYNOPSIS:
An unexploded WWII bomb is discovered on a busy construction site in the centre of London. Chaos ensues as the military and police begin a mass evacuation against a ticking clock.
There isn’t much characterization in David Mackenzie’s Fuze, and for a while, there doesn’t need to be. A live World War II bomb is found by a construction crew in London, prompting the entrance of British Army bomb disposal expert Will (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), inciting an evacuation.
At the same time, a band of criminals (who may or may not have anything to do with the bomb in the first place), led by Sam Worthington’s X, use this as a distraction for one of the more ingenious and unique bank robberies put on screen in some time. It is undeniably riveting to watch this group go about their mission while occasionally solving problems (such as when movement is detected on some thermal radars, temporarily halting the crew trying to diffuse the bomb so law enforcement can investigate). Everything from their disguises to how they put themselves in position to rob this bank to a clever means of getting the money out of a momentarily abandoned area where no one is supposed to be. Again, it’s an undeniably original heist.
For some reason, screenwriter Ben Hopkins either doesn’t feel the same way or has a clear lack of confidence in the material, unable to help himself from eventually piling on double crosses, additional factions, more motives, and more characters until the film no longer has anything to do with its original concept. David Mackenzie’s previous film had a similar problem: it fell apart during the third act, but at least that movie was dealing with most of the same initial plot. Fuze is a film where its narrative spins so far out of control, desperately trying to twist the viewer into a pretzel, that its ending is nothing more than an Afghanistan flashback.
There is a chance that it could have worked if there were some attempt at characterizing anyone here, which comes to include immigrants (mainly a family man played by Elham Ehsas) suspected of possibly having something to do with the situation, a diamond smuggler (Theo James) and his backstabbing family, and bonds that go all the way back to time spent deployed in Afghanistan. Instead, it is almost astonishing the degree to which every single character here exists merely as a means to swerve the viewer when it is their time to reveal their true intent. Naturally, it all becomes so ridiculous that it’s nothing but pointless and impossible to care about. That also assumes one doesn’t get lost following whatever this plot is supposed to be.
Fuze ends with a series of graphics that let us know what these characters got up to in the future, while blasting some punk rock music, as if we were somehow supposed to be energized after sitting through this exhausting endeavor that was actually mostly fun for roughly the first hour. It is difficult to imagine anyone caring enough to go to Google if any of this is grounded in some fact or inspired by a true story.
David Mackenzie is transparent in trying too hard to recreate the magic of the thrilling contemporary western, Hell or High Water, and during the first act, one sees the potential for Fuze to come somewhere within that area, especially given the unorthodox heist and ticking time bomb, making for urgent dynamism. That potential explodes like a bomb in the face of these filmmakers as they make a mess of this.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
