Fight Fire With Fire
2012-03-08
N/A
108 min
While working undercover as a bodyguard to arms dealer Harry, former-soldier-turned-secret-service-agent Ewan survives a bloody shootout with a member of an Islamic terrorist cell who steals Harry's briefcase full of Semtex explosives and escapes. Ewan's spymasters task Ewan with hunting down the cell members and retrieving the briefcase.
It's a format I've seen before in British crime thriller/political intrigue films, a format I'm not particularly fond of, and Cleanskin isn't even a well done example of it. No letdowns in the acting department though, so credit where credit's due.
Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product.
A young British student (Abhin Galeya) is gradually indoctrinated into a Muslim cell bent on revenge after the "War on Terror", and is pursued by a government agent - Sean Bean - who is pretty much given a clean slate by his boss Charlotte Rampling. The story is told via parallel timelines in which we discover what has driven both men to their current courses of action; and whilst it does use some fairly sweeping stereotypical generalising for plot development, the characterisations delivered by both - especially Galeya - are quite revealing as a potential explanation for extremes in behaviour caused by fear, ignorance and large scale indifference. Regrettably, the dialogue is mundane; and the direction loses focus all to often as we flit between scenarios whilst trying to build up some sort of interest in two rather unlikeable - if good looking - men obsessed with their own perspectives. Rampling features sparingly, as does James Fox, which is a shame as they could have both have been used to further develop the cause and effect toxicity of the storyline. It is worth a watch, but is not particularly original in either concept nor execution.
