Cleanskin

Cleanskin sets itself up to be a sophisticated smart action thriller and it hits most of its targets with the ruthless efficiency of the films main character Ewan, a secret service agent played by Sean Bean.

The film ratchets up the tension from the opening credits where Bean is undercover as a body guard for a small time arms dealer. Ewans mission is to find out who the dealer is selling Semtex too. Ewan is shot and wounded during a heist in which the dealer is assassinated and the Semtex stolen. When a suicide bombing takes place in a busy restaurant a few days later it’s clear that a terrorist cell was behind the robbery and that they are waging a terrifying bombing campaign. Ewan is tasked with hunting down the cell and terminating them with extreme prejudice. The problem that he has is that the leader of the cell is an idealistic embittered young man, who was 'turned' whilst at University. His name is Ash, excellently portrayed here by Abhin Galeya. Utterly devoted to the cause but with no criminal history, he is every agent's worst nightmare. He is a 'cleanskin': a terrorist with no previous convictions and unknown to the national security services.

Cleanskin is 107 minutes of action packed smart British thriller. It is in places brutal and compelling. The action scenes are incredibly well done and genuinely make you jump in your seat. The movie is fast paced and there is very little fat in the taut script.

The overall message that no one is all good or all bad are the only times it fails to fully hit its target and it would be interesting to see what was left on the cutting room floor that might give the viewer more insight into the relationship between Ash and his ex girlfriend Kate played by Tuppence Middleton. The fact that we want to know more tells you how engaging the film is and the plot is rich with numerous subplots, twists and turns.

You expect and get good performances from established actors such as Sean Bean and Charlotte Rampling but this film is given added momentum by excellent support from Tom Burke, Shivani Ghai and Chris Ryman and even a cameo by Michelle Ryan.

Two stand out performances are provided by Peter Polycarpou as the cleric Nabil and Silas Carson as Amin,a classic charismatic murdering maniac. Both steal any scene they appear in.

It seems a long time since a really good action thriller was produced in this country but Hadi Hajaig who wrote and directed Cleanskin has succeeded here. It deserves to do well and hopefully will do for action thrillers in this country what Lock Stock did for British Crime Capers. Enjoy