Fuze is one of those films that does almost everything right, and yet somehow leaves you wanting just a little more.
Directed by David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water, Outlaw King, Relay), it’s a British crime thriller that deliberately avoids the flashy chaos of the genre. No snappy editing, no over-the-top style, none of the winking self-awareness that can make these films feel like they’re trying way too hard. Just a steady, controlled hand throughout.
That restraint is actually a real strength and the film is always clear, always purposeful, never messy. Having said that, it also means it never quite catches fire in the way you hope it might.
When an unexploded WWII bomb is discovered in central London, authorities scramble to contain the threat as a mass evacuation unfolds. Amid the rising tension and ticking clock, multiple characters, including military personnel and criminals, become entangled in the chaos, turning a public safety crisis into something far more complicated.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Major Will Tranter, the army officer heading the complex operation of detonating the bomb, while Gugu Mbatha-Raw is Chief Superintendent Zuzana, MET police counterpart. Elsewhere, Theo James, Sam Worthington (criminally underused), and Nabil Elouahabi are members of a criminal gang attempting to exploit the chaos by robbing a local bank during the unfolding crisis.
There’s a quiet intensity to Taylor-Johnson’s performance, suggesting there’s a lot going on beneath the surface. The character clearly has baggage — there’s a mention of PTSD at some point — but the film kind of just says it and moves on. You get the sense there’s something genuinely interesting buried in there, but it’s never really dug into. It ends up feeling more like a label than an actual character trait, which is a shame, because Taylor-Johnson looks like he’d have plenty to work with if given the chance.
That’s probably Fuze’s biggest weakness, and it runs through the whole film. It’s crying out for another twenty minutes. More time with Tranter, more space to let things breathe, and maybe a cleverer structure — the kind of late-game twist that reframes everything you’ve seen before, Ocean’s 11-style. You can almost see the version of this film that does all of that, and it’s frustrating, because the ingredients are genuinely there. They just never fully come together.
To its credit, the film knows exactly what it is and doesn’t try to be anything else. You won’t mistake it for Snatch or Lock, Stock, it’s playing a completely different game, and it’s confident about that. There’s no attempt to borrow their energy or their humour, which stops the film from feeling like an imitation. It carves out its own tone and sticks to it. That’s harder than it looks, and Mackenzie deserves credit for it — even if that same discipline is part of what keeps the film from being truly memorable.
Fuze is a genuinely solid thriller. Well-made, controlled, never dull. You’ll enjoy it while it’s on, and Taylor-Johnson, Theo James et al are worth watching throughout. You just might not find yourself thinking about it much once it’s over.
