Cleanskin (2012)

Review: written Nov 2012

Budget thriller veneer covers a more interesting investigation of topical subject

Sean Bean is slumming it a bit here in this relatively low budget British thriller, set in the world of counter terrorism. ‘Cleanskin’ is a word describing an extremist unknown to the security forces as they have no prior record or convictions. Bean effortlessly plays the role of an ex-serviceman now employed to do skulduggery by the government, his handler played by Charlotte Rampling of all people, who reports to James Fox. All of whom seem out of place with the apparent low budget and straight to DVD feel of the movie.

Low budget feel notwithstanding, the action scenes are well contained and feel real world-y, however the more interesting element of the movie is the story, partly told in flashback, of how Ash (Abhin Galeya, who performs very well) goes from UK student with anger management issues, to being a terrorist willing to sacrifice his life. His character arc is the most interesting, by far, of the characters. Bean does well enough, but he is on autopilot here, and how Rampling and Fox were persuaded to be in it is anybody’s guess, though their very presence does lend a little class to the movie. The action certainly rattles along in fairly intense fashion, and the director never fails to make the most of an opportunity to show someone's brains being blown out in as much detail as possible.

always make sense. The introduction of Sean Bean in his first shoot-out does seem to leave you to think that he is somehow not as professional as the rest of the movie would like you to believe he is. The score effectively sounds cinematic enough to propel the action and at 108 minutes it's about the right length for the amount of story to be told. It's not a disaster by any means, and as a budget buy this will fill some of your spare time for you well enough. Certainly for a movie that looks fairly exploitational from the cover, it does a surprising job of showing two sides of an all too current story, in an interesting and even-handed way, tied in to a thriller format.