FUZE : Tuesday 21st April 2026.

I saw the M Rated 'FUZE' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this British crime thriller heist film is Co-Produced and Directed by David Mackenzie whose previous feature film Directorial output includes 'Young Adam' in 2003, 'Hallam Foe' in 2007, 'Perfect Sense' in 2011, 'Hell or High Water' in 2016, 'Outlaw King' in 2018 and 'Relay' in 2024. The film Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September last year at the Gala Presentations section, was released in the UK earlier this month, and has generated mixed or average critical reviews.

Here, set in modern day London, the film opens on a building site in Paddington where an excavation reveals what appears to be an unexploded WWII bomb. The site foreman calls the local Police who spring into action and alert the Army bomb disposal unit. The Police, under the command of Chief Superintendent Zuzana Greenfield (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), cordon off an area the size of several city blocks, and order the immediate evacuation of all civilians, including Rahim (Elham Ehsas) and his parents, to Hyde Park. Meanwhile, Greenfield has contacted Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) a seasoned bomb disposal expert to lead the investigation into the nature of said device and its defusing. 

Upon arrival at the Paddington site, Tranter and his team set the ground rules for handling the alleged bomb, which sits buried in mud and partially submerged in waste water. The operation is hampered when Tranter discovers a timed trigger, and that it is ticking. One of the soldiers uses a magnetic device to temporarily disable the timer, while the rest attempt to build a wall to contain and reduce the blast zone. Tranter relays back to his team and Greenfield that the bomb could off anytime between now and the next 48 hours. 

Amidst the chaos, and the city falling silent, the streets empty and with electricity supplies cut off Karalis (Theo James), X (Sam Worthington), Hardeep (Naveed Khan), Y (Shaun Mason) and Z (Nabil Elouahabi) break into a bank in Edgware Road, that is located directly adjacent to Rahim's apartment block. They gain access through the basement, and using a large industrial drilling machine, bore through the two feet thick concrete wall and then blow torch their way in through the steel wall into the vault. Having gained access they set about looting safety deposit boxes and steal money, jewellery, and a cache of diamonds. Their heat signature is spotted from Rahim's apartment by a Police drone, suspending the bomb disposal operation while Policemen search the cordoned area. Karalis is spotted keeping a watchful eye on proceedings at street level, and the Police engage in a chase with the thieves. Meanwhile, the bomb malfunctions, reactivating the timer and eventually resulting in the device detonating before the wall can be completed. The explosion leaves a big crater in the ground, a shock wave that can be felt several blocks away and a huge plume of grey smoke and ash rising up from the scene of the blast. Fortunately, no lives are lost. 

The thieves are able to successfully evade the Police - first on foot through the sewers of central London and then they escape in a van to a safehouse in the countryside. There, Karalis reveals uncut diamonds among the loot, then double-crosses them by calling in a team of armed gangsters he works for, who come in with shotguns blasting away, and take out Y with a blast to his shoulder. They then cable tie the thieves up and lock them in a shed. Karalis, who is in cahoots with his uncle, who turns the tables on his nephew by stating that he now wants a 50% cut of the share from the sale of the diamonds when they had originally agreed a 20% cut. Karalis is none too pleased with this development and when he tries to explain the work involved in fencing off uncut diamonds, and their true value only when they are cut, the uncle slams down a wrench on the table smashing the diamond into dust. Upon discovering the diamonds to be fake, the gangsters break his hand with the wrench, lock him in the boot of their car and drive off with him, leaving the other thieves locked in the shed. Y succumbs to his shotgun wound and dies. X breaks free from his cable tied wrists and frees the others. Using the van to break out of the shed door, X grabs his tablet from two getaway cars and says that he placed tracking devices on each of them, because he felt none of his accomplices could be trusted. and Karalis is able to use his phone to broadcast his location. With X, Hardeep and Z tracking him, they eventually catch up, kill the gunmen, and attempt to suffocate Karalis, but Tranter arrives and shoots X dead, and wounds Hardeep and Z, so allowing Karalis to escape. With Hardeep and Z left for dead, they both retrieve the stash of cash and jewellery from the gunmen's car, and are last seen grinning from ear to ear. 

By the time the Police have figured out Tranter, Karalis and Rahim's involvement in the heist and their connection, the three have fled the UK each on separate flights. Reuniting in Istanbul, it is revealed that Tranter was working with Karalis to steal the diamonds; when Karalis was discovered, Tranter sabotaged his own home made WWII looking bomb, triggering the explosion to buy them time to escape the Police; and Rahim, a long term friend of Tranter, ensured the switch of the real diamonds for the fake ones and their concealment and ultimate retrieval was carried out according to plan. After arranging for the diamonds to be cut and sold in Istanbul to diamond traders, and dividing the US$90M proceeds equally between them, the three part ways.

A closing sequence tells us that Tranter, Karalis and Rahim first met ten years earlier in Afghanistan, when Karalis was double-crossed by his employer, who kidnapped him, only for their convoy to be caught up in an IED blast. Tranter and Rahim who happened to be in the locale at the time provided cover fire against the insurgents, as Karalis was able to disarm a land mine that Tranter had inadvertently stepped on. However, whilst Karalis cut the wire leading to the land mine, he neglected to disengage the grenade at the mine's control box causing a chain reaction of explosions from other buried IED's sending the three of them flying albeit unharmed. 

'Fuze' hardly reinvents the bank heist film genre that goes adrift before the final payoff and the villains walk away to spend their millions on ill gotten gains, but nonetheless, it is an enjoyable, entertaining and engaging robbery romp ramping up the tension, the plot twists and turns and the double crosses into a reasonably respectable 97 minute run time. The character development is somewhat lacking (until that final sequence) and the at times ho-hum dialogue, but the cinematography, editing, Mackenzie's deft Directorial hand and a more than competent cast all add up to an acceptable thrill ride. 

'Fuze' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

CONCUSSION : Saturday 20th February 2016.

CONCUSSION which I saw over the weekend was released Stateside at Christmas and this latest Will Smith vehicle has so far received luke warm reviews but has made US$42M off its US$35M budget. Opening in Australia just last week, this biographical sports medical drama is based on the article written for GQ magazine in 2009 titled 'Game Brain' by Jeanne Marie Laskas, and was written for the big screen and Directed by investigative journalist Peter Landesman. This is a true story.


As the film opens we see retired NFL legend 'Iron' Mike Webster (David Morse almost unrecognisable) talking onstage about his life and his 18 years at the top of his game and what it meant on a daily basis to play the game for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As he speaks he struggles with his words and is clearly not the man he used to be - he is not yet 50 years of age, but looks older.

We then cut to a court room and Will Smith's Dr. Bennet Omalu is sat in the dock in court and for the jury is asked to give his credentials. It takes him five minutes to do so - such is the length of his qualifications, degrees, and educational track record gained in his native Nigeria, then the US and the UK in between.  He now works at the Pittsburgh Allegheny County Coroners Office as a forensic pathologist under County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks) and is in court to give evidence in a murder trial. It is 2002.

Meanwhile, Mike Webster's condition has worsened and we see him living in his battered pickup truck, practically destitute and suffering from the signs of amnesia, dementia, depression, bone & muscle pain, headaches and voices inside his head to a point where his state of mind has almost become unbearable. He seeks medication from former team doctor and good friend Dr. Julian Bailes (Alec Baldwin). A few days later Webster is found dead inside his pickup truck. The city of Pittsburgh reels from the news that their favourite son and NFL legend is dead. He winds up on a slab in the path lab at the Coroner's Office, with Omalu tasked with the autopsy.

Following extensive brain tissue investigation and meticulous research, Omalu determines that essentially NFL killed Webster, through repeated blows to the head throughout his career - blows to the head that the human brain is simply designed not to be able to withstand to such an extent and over such a prolonged period of time. He brings his findings to the attention of acclaimed neurologist Dr. Steven DeKosky (Eddie Marsan) who concurs with his findings but is apprehensive about publishing based on just one case. Omalu is convinced that other NFL players have died before, and more will follow, but they cannot run tests on the living, because the cause does not register on CT scans, and the symptoms are inconclusive.

In time there are further player deaths from very similar circumstances - Terry Long, Andre Waters and Justin Strzelczyk which allows Omalu to conduct further tests and draw the same conclusions time after time. He receives a call from Julian Bailes now retired from the NFL and running his own practice, who agrees with his findings but states clearly that Omalu is treading very dangerous ground, but offers his support. With DeKosky and Wecht he publishes his findings and conclusions in a medical journal which is quickly dismissed by the multi-billion dollar NFL machine, as the musings of an unqualified African quack! Giving the disease a name - chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) the NFL close ranks and begin a witch hunt against Omalu and those closest to him.

Feeling the pressures to back down from his continued work and what they reveal about the inherent dangers of the NFL game. Wecht becomes a victim of politically motivated 80+ trumped up corruption charges in an attempt to make Omalu resign, his wife Prema Mutisu (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) miscarries their first child as a result of being stalked, and the couple are forced to sell up their custom built dream home and relocate to California.

Three years later however, Bailes calls Omalu with the news that highly respected former NFL Players Association Executive Dave Duerson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) has shot himself dead due to ongoing cognitive issues, and in a suicide note left by his bedside he admits that Omalu was right all along. After years of brick walls, denial, dismissal, smear campaigns, and accusations against him and those near, the NFL is forced to sit up and finally take notice. Omalu is invited to attend and present at the National Football League Players Association national conference and talk about concussion and CTE in the game.

As the closing credits roll, we are told that since then it has been determined that 28% of all NFL players are diagnosed with the symptoms of CTE and most are in the 40's and 50's. As a result of his work and his findings the NFL had been forced to pay out huge undisclosed sums to the families and relatives of those that have succumbed to CTE and that Congress and the NFL have subsequently taken the concussion issue much more seriously.

This is a compelling dramatic film that had to be told given the enormity of the game and the almost god-like worship given to the players within it and the consequences of playing week after week year after year in such a brutal, violent yet beautiful sport. Will Smith gives a standout performance in every respect and is convincing in his restrained role as the reluctant but determined doctor just wanting the truth to be told. On the sideline Alec Baldwin and Albert Brooks in particular give fine supporting turns as supporters to Omalu in stoic do the right thing never back down fashion. Overlooked at the upcoming Academy Awards but nominated for a Golden Globe, this film picked up four award wins and another eleven nominations from around the traps - all mostly for Will Smith's performance. A film worth watching but don't expect 'Any Given Sunday' or 'Remember the Titan's'

-Steve, at Odeon Online-