Cleanskin (2012)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Cleanskin is a term referring to terrorists with a clean record and not on intelligence's radar. British secret agent Ewan (Sean Bean) is undercover as a bodyguard to an arms dealer. They are attacked by terrorists who steal a suitcase filled with Semtex explosives. Ewan's superior Charlotte (Charlotte Rampling) tells him to go off books and hunt down the Semtex. Public knowledge of losing the Semtex would be devastating to the Service. The terrorists led by Ash make suicide vests and launch a bombing campaign across London. In flashbacks, Ash is a westernized Muslim pursuing Mary who does recreational drugs. He is recruited by Nabil as he goes down the long path into terrorism.Secret agent Ewan has his moments but his story is not realistic enough to be gritty. It does have a feel of Bourne but is not at that level. That part also has an unconvincing twist in the end. I actually like Ash and Mary's half of the movie more. They are star-crossed lovers and a compelling tragic love affair. Ewan's half is not quite at the same level as other bigger thrillers.

This movie essentially begins with a British Secret Service agent named "Ewan" (Sean Bean) escorting a man by the name of "Harry" (Sam Douglas) who is carrying a briefcase full of high-grade explosives. It's at this time that a couple of terrorists intercept Harry and Ewan and after a gunfight take the briefcase. Not long afterward one of the terrorists detonates a bomb inside a London café. Since the explosives used in the bombing were part of the same batch taken during Ewan's botched assignment, he is tasked by his superiors to locate and kill those responsible. His mission, however, is both top-secret and off-the-books which means that nobody other than a new partner by the name of "Mark" (Tom Burke) knows anything about it. What Ewan and Mark don't realize is that the terrorists they are chasing also have certain connections and are equally intent upon carrying out their mission as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a decent film which is dark and dreary in some parts but requires the viewer's full attention due to the underlying subplot revealed only at the end. And even then I felt there could have been a bit more clarification. In any case, I enjoyed this movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

CLEANSKIN wants to be a good film. Desperately, in fact. You can feel it in the amount of effort that's gone into what is obviously a low budget production. However, as the story plays out, it becomes increasingly apparent that this is one muddled production with lots of problems and flaws that take the edge off.Take the direction, for instance. As an action thriller, this contains a handful of nicely gruesome fight scenes, but they're muddled due to poor editing which saps enjoyment. At some points you can't see what's going on. Plus, the music is absolutely awful, an incongruous, over-the-top emotive soundtrack that plays loudly when people are walking through corridors and the like. It makes the film feel very cheesy at times.On the plus side, the film features an engaging and well developed villain with strong acting from Abhin Galeya. In fact, he's more developed that the typical gruff hero role, played by Sean Bean. Bean is fine, but his character is largely one-dimensional here. The radicalisation storyline is very interesting although it's an odd choice to dip into a lengthy flashback that runs for half an hour right in the middle of the movie, although it does work, just about. It's certainly better than the sub-plot involving Tuppence Middleton's vacuous, dim character who adds absolutely nothing to the experience other than to pad out the running time a little.

I really enjoyed this intelligent, tough, uncompromising portrayal of a British agent trying to catch a "cleanskin" (no terrorist history or connections) middle eastern young man who is recruited as a jihadist. Sean Bean does a nice portrayal of a troubled war veteran who loves his country. The other main characters are all very believable in the roles they play. It is possible to understand how a seemingly reasonable Arab leader could recruit "normal" young men into the movement and gradually progress them to suicide bombers. We see even more of this now that so many westerners have joined ISIS.The tension builds throughout this movie. You are really unsure of what exactly is going on until the very end. I enjoyed this movie as much as Arlington Road, another hidden gem of a film, which is similar in many ways.(Spoiler) I liked that the film does not make anyone either good or bad. Some, perhaps all, of the characters do horrible things but they have their reasons. And the reasons make sense.