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If you’re in the mood for an entertaining thriller, look no further than Fuze. The new movie from director David Mackenzie ticks all the right boxes for those looking for thrills and heart-pounding tension, and it’s now available to rent or buy from platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV.
The underrated thriller movie is set in London, where an unexploded World War 2-era bomb is found on a construction site. A team of military experts led by Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is tasked with dealing with it as quickly as possible.
Simultaneously, a diamond expert named Karalis (Theo James) is working alongside a shifty group of criminals to plot an ambitious jewel heist while taking advantage of the city’s evacuation order. With all eyes on containing the bomb, they have a chance to strike.
So we’ve got not one but two heart-pounding incidents here, giving plenty of ground for some thrilling scenes and tension building. The movie has a nice 96-minute runtime and is well-paced; you’ll certainly never be bored.
But sometimes less is more. Fuze unfortunately does rely on action and impressive set pieces over its admittedly brilliant cast, which are criminally underused. Outside of their jobs and their responsibilities in the movie, we don’t really know much about them. This means that character development is lacking throughout.
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It would have been cool to see great actors like Taylor-Johnson and James given a little more to do, especially when it comes to interacting with those around them. James’ Karalis character has a group of robbers alongside him, including Sam Worthington as X, Shaun Mason as Y, and Nabil Elouahabi as Z.
Unfortunately, those three do feel as generic as their codenames, and I would’ve liked to see some proper dynamics between the robbers, which would’ve added higher personal stakes and more drama.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars as Chief Superintendent Zuzana Greenfield, alongside her right-hand Clareese, played by Honor Swinton Byrne. We have two more huge names here who feel wasted, just existing to give orders from a control room.
Had the characters been more interesting, I do think that Fuze could’ve been a much more effective thriller. There’s no denying it’s an exciting movie that will entertain you, but it’s definitely not a character-driven kind of story. Then again, you might not be seeking out Fuze, looking for anything more than fast-paced scenes and nail-biting tension, which is perfectly fine.
Fuze is exciting and well shot, and despite being predictable in places, it is still a decent movie. It doesn’t pretend to reinvent the wheel and gives us two exciting scenarios to follow. Set against a London backdrop with the threat of the capital’s citizens in danger, it’s a nightmarish scenario come to life on screen.
I would highly recommend this movie to fans of 70s thriller movies like Airport and Figures in a Landscape, as the vibes are very similar here. It’s less about the characters themselves and more about the danger they find themselves in instead. Even if the characters feel disposable, we can still get sucked into the story.
Finally, Fuze‘s ending may divide viewers as it seems to simmer instead of going out with a bang, but I felt it was a satisfying conclusion. It might not be the most re-watchable thriller in the world, but it’s still worth your time.
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