{"id":403078,"date":"2025-09-06T16:29:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T16:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403078\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T16:29:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T16:29:16","slug":"a-ww2-bomb-is-unearthed-in-central-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403078\/","title":{"rendered":"A WW2 Bomb Is Unearthed in Central London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhat sets someone off? In the twisty, streaming-caliber thriller \u201cFuze<\/a>,\u201d that\u2019s as much the question as whether the 500-pound bomb discovered in a London construction site might blow. If it does, the WW2-era explosive (presumably a relic of the Blitz) could wipe out several city blocks, which is why authorities swarm the area and evacuate all residents in the film\u2019s opening minutes. Normally, that would be a recipe for some edge-of-your-seat action, although Ben Hopkins\u2019 script makes clear early on that the bomb is just a distraction, while an even more sinister plot is ticking within the blast radius.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf it weren\u2019t for the film\u2019s cast (or the grim seriosity of its director, David Mackenzie<\/a>), \u201cFuze\u201d might have been a complete dud. But \u201cHell or High Water\u201d helmer Mackenzie treats the assignment like he\u2019s the one saving lives, eschewing anything that might count as fun along the way. With his jaw clenched and sights set on being the next James Bond, Aaron Taylor-Johnson<\/a> plays Major Will Tranter, a bomb disposal pro who\u2019s both an ace sniper and a bit of a loose cannon, breaking protocol in his obsessive attempt to deactivate the vintage ordnance with minimal casualties.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Tranter\u2019s poking around the deadly antique, a high-ranking police officer named Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is focused on protecting the public. Mackenize singles out a Dari-speaking immigrant named Rahim (Elham Ehsas) and his elderly parents as the residents warily pour out of a nearby apartment building, knowing that audiences\u2019 imaginations (and biases) will start to suggest how this character might relate to the bigger picture. Although several of the film\u2019s surprises are predictable \u2014 usually just moments before the reversal comes \u2014 no one is likely to figure out Rahim\u2019s connection to the bomb.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne thing is sure: Movie stars don\u2019t take roles in movies like \u201cFuze\u201d unless they\u2019re being offered something interesting to play, which means that the instant Theo James and Sam Worthington appear (or step from the shadows), our interest shifts from the bomb to whatever these two and their accomplices are up to. For nearly the first half of the film, composer Tony Doogan layers a steady synthetic heartbeat beneath the action, which gains little from this trick. If we\u2019re invested, it\u2019s because the cast telegraphs that these characters are important.<\/p>\n

\n\tJames\u2019s character talks with a South African accent and goes by the name Karalis, and though he comes across as a villain at first, it\u2019s too early to say if that\u2019s true. Karalis supplies his colleagues with fluorescent orange utility uniforms and stealthily leads them through the back door of the Bank Al Muraqabah, located just below Rahim\u2019s building. While Tranter tinkers and Zuzana monitors the wall of local surveillance footage, Karalis and his team get to work drilling through the wall of the vault. Clearly, it\u2019s no coincidence that they picked this moment to rob the bank. But what is their greater goal?<\/p>\n

\n\tMackenzie\u2019s a good director \u2014 good enough to make the sheer preposterous of this heist seem plausible \u2014 but he saves the thing that would make us root for these characters until the very end. Meanwhile, it\u2019s not clear who\u2019s side we\u2019re meant to take, which complicates things once a scheme that couldn\u2019t possibly have gone according to plan starts to unravel in unexpected and potentially upsetting ways. By this point, there are plot holes bigger than the one this bomb might tear in the London map.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did the bomb get to the building site? Who\u2019s the bloke whose safety deposit box Karalis is after, and why isn\u2019t he a character? Is Zuzana the only one trying to stop the scheme, and what kind of thriller is that, where you leave it to the criminals to eliminate one another? There\u2019s an element of sleek, Jean-Pierre Melville-style efficiency to the operation, if not Michael Mann-level theatrics. \u201cFuze\u201d shares the French director\u2019s code of honor between men, no matter which side of the law they inhabit, as seen in films such as \u201cThe Red Circle\u201d and \u201cArmy of Shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tApart from one shocking death (when Tranter switches from neutralizing bombs up close to eliminating threats with his long-range rifle), the action is entertaining enough in the moment, but not especially memorable. The most explosive scene isn\u2019t the one you expect, but the coda in which we learn why three characters are so unwaveringly loyal, when everyone else seems ready to double-cross each other at the first opportunity. It\u2019s in that moment that the film\u2019s fuze is set. Can Tranter or anyone stop it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What sets someone off? In the twisty, streaming-caliber thriller \u201cFuze,\u201d that\u2019s as much the question as whether the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[54589,138501,77,138502,3943,138490,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-403078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-aaron-taylor-johnson","9":"tag-david-mackenzie","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fuze","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-toronto-film-festival","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115158303799531439","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}