[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
In Theaters Now, on Blu-Ray and VOD July 7
There are precious few surprises in cinema these days, and those encountered are almost always unpleasant ones piggybacking on the shoulders of wasted potential. Every once in a while, something special open-palm smacks the shit out of a viewer with sharp acting, clever writing, and exquisite craftsmanship in all departments, and that’s just what FUZE does in 95 efficient and electrifying minutes. A tense, narrative-forward crime-caper that develops its layers and twists right up to the last frame, this has the sheen of a direct-to-video early-summer castaway, but the pedigree and bona fides of a proper four-quadrant blockbuster.
When a construction crew unearths what appears to be an 80-year-old Nazi bomb in central London, Metro Police Superintendent Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) springs into action deploying not just her Constables to evacuate the area, but also the Royal Army’s bomb squad to go in. Major Will Trantor (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) leads the diffusing efforts while a heist crew down the street uses the evacuation and electricity cut-off to execute a bank vault invasion. Director David Mackenzie establishes three isolated locations to guide the viewer through each phase of this multi-headed drama: the bank breach basement, Trantor’s construction site bomb HQ, and Zuzana’s police command center. As gang leader, X (Sam Worthington), and his lookout, Karalis (Theo James), play hide and seek with the police and Zuzana’s street cameras, Trantor and his team tinker with the bomb and its sensitive components.
Not everything is as it seems, though, as Mackenzie and the script by Ben Hopkins start teasing at the frayed edges of this somewhat rote crime caper as FUZE moves into its second act. The movie broadens its field of vision to follow one of the hundreds of citizens evacuating under police supervision, Rahim (Elham Ehsas), as well as a corporal in Trantor’s unit, Martin (Alexander Arnold), who keeps asking a lot of good questions. These threads are pulled as the story expands further outside of its original three spatial anchors, revealing the different levels of planning, collusion, and betrayal underpinning each of the several layers padding the overall concept.
It is obvious early on that the discovery of the bomb is no random occurrence, as the heist crew is in place and ready to breach the bank vault the moment Zuzans orders the power cut for Trantor and his team’s defusal work. Just how the plan works and the order of operations for those involved is the fun of it, though, and Mackenzie deploys the series of reveals with exacting precision. Hopkins’ script does a great job widening the scope of the narrative just enough with each development to keep the audience guessing but never confused, assuring that the story is clear at each stage.
FUZE gets considerable help in this regard from its cast, starting with ATJ as the stoic yet uncomfortably intense Trantor, along with Worthington and James leading the robbery efforts. All convey effortless authority and gravitas, and serve as the perfect counterweights to the diligent, professional, and focused Mbatha-Raw, who is unironically giving Simon Pegg in Hot Fuzz vibes, here. These performances aren’t colored with any hint of self-awareness or parody, though, and to the movie’s benefit, all commit to the serious tone and tenor of this world without veering into any obvious white-knighting or mustache twirling.
It’s a tough balance, to be sure, yet the cast have the chops to pull it all off. The score by Tony Doogan is also a key component of the film’s tone and presence, using a pulsating synth motif like a heartbeat for the characters and action. And while things start off feeling like a budget version of one of the many Heat rip-offs (The Town, Den of Thieves, etc.), Mackenzie and the script keep FUZE in its own lane and outfitted with a few unique wrinkles on the established format. Granted, there are a couple leaps in logic needed to negotiate all of the script’s particulars before, during, and after the events featured, but the crucial components of each twist are set up and paid off (though not necessarily in that order).
Mackenzie, who earned his cops-and-robbers stripes with Hell or High Water, once again creates a world where the viewer is as invested in the drama and character dynamics of the “bad” guys as the “good,” and broadens that field of vision further still, here. It isn’t giving anything away to say that FUZE hides several reveals that set the story up as more than just a bomb threat mixed with a heist, and the journey of discovery is as much fun as the very crisp action that buttresses it.
And that’s surprising, because movies this good aren’t usually dropped with little fanfare at the start of the summer blockbuster season in between Star Wars properties (The Mandalorian) and tentpole nostalgia bait (He-Man). Visually a little flat, but otherwise a slam dunk in every other department that contributes to making a kick-ass, tense, smart movie, FUZE may have a bomb at its narrative’s center, but it is anything but.
“Obvious Child” is the debut novel of Warren Cantrell, a film and music critic based out of Seattle, Washington. Mr. Cantrell has covered the Sundance and Seattle International Film Festivals, and provides regular dispatches for Scene-Stealers and The Playlist. Warren holds a B.A. and M.A. in History, and his hobbies include bourbon drinking, novel writing, and full-contact kickboxing.
You must log in to post a comment.