Take 66: Fuze
Set in London, Fuze is part heist film hidden inside an intense bomb evacuation/disarmament potential disaster film. Things really get explosive when the two plots meet, as the the bomb that army disposal expert Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and his team work to defuse a bomb is discovered in the heart of London. With the city evacuated, a criminal gang of thieves led by Karalis (Theo James) and X (Sam Worthington) seek to take advantage of the evacuated city to pull off and large scale robbery. Along the way there is action, suspense, and plot twist galore that actually manage to propel this movie through most of its 97 minute runtime.
We have a very solid cast here. It’s always nice to see Aaron Taylor Johnson front and center, and actually playing British for a change! He seems to be right on the verge of being the really next big thing. He’s definitely got action-hero start written on him and we have that here and he also gets to bring a little humor and a charm to the Major that’s enduring. Theo James is also really good here. His gets to have fun with a character that is very much outside of what he usually plays. His character starts as very clearly one thing but as the story develops, we begin to get differing layers which I was not necessarily expecting. The other bigger name here I guess is Sam Worthington. I will admit, I don’t know him as well as the other two (I guess he’s in all the Avatars- surprise to me as I only ever saw the one back when it first came out) but he mad the movie poster, as did I the lovely Guy Mbatha-Raw as Zuzana, but neither of them seem get the weight in the film that you’d hope for which is a shame. Props to Elham Ehsas who plays Rahim for breaking through a going from what seems to be a minor character to a lynchpin in the film.
This was another Cinemark Secret Movie Series, and once again, I went in totally blind. I had never heard of this one beforehand so it was fun to make my own opinion without any bias whatsoever. I will say, as interesting as the premise is, it DID start a bit slowly for me. I still swear I might have low key narcolepsy when agains reared it’s head so I am sure I missed a good deal of crucial pot, but when it DOES hit the mark, it got pretty dang good. The structure and ending were a bit unconventional and it worked for me. I’m always a sucker for a good “10 years earlier” moment. The placement of it here spoke to me here. I also really liked the double-crosses and reveals so it made up for the slow beginning.
It started on the stuffy side but defintely got better as it went. I venture to guess it will be even better upon subsequent viewings, but not to shabby the first time around. Worth a watch.
My score: 7.4
Is your Fuze lit? If so, set it off in the comments. And until next wee- heek (that’s a hint for what I hope to review next week. Stay tuned…)
