Cleanskin - Bis zum Anschlag

A rough, tough and extremely violent movie that sees Game of Thrones star Sean Bean swap doublet and sword for civvies and gun to play a British secret service agent who's ordered to going under cover to track down some missing Semtex explosive and the home-grown Islamist suicide cell possessing it. The title is spy-speak for terrorists with no criminal record, so unknown to the secret services that they're almost impossible to trace. Sean Bean is his usual tough minimalist self, but keeping into account he's the star of the show, he's not on screen a lot - a case of too much terrorist, not enough secret agent. The story certainly has ambition and there are some memorable fight scenes, but it also lacks the extra boost that could have pushed much more Bean's action-movie career.

What I enjoyed most about this films that it showed both sides of a very British story without being preachy, one sided or have an agenda. What made me watch it all the way through is that it was all built into the thriller format.

What I have found in many films dealing with this subject matter is that they all have been either heavy handed but mostly too worthy. Cleanskin gets on with telling a story and just observes and keeps a distance from the issues, simply presenting them asthey are.

It was good to see the process of how a man born here in the UK is turned to the road of murder and how people use him for their own reasons and benefits. Very refreshing to have a film show the process and treat the character of Ash objectively but showing all his appalling faults.

It was Sean's Beans best performance for many years, I'm not too familiar with all his films but I thought he did a very good job with this film as he did on Game of Thrones. The good thing about his character is that he wasn't the standard angry soldier, he had a history and motivation.

My favourite scene was when Ash is about to commit his attack he visits the Cleric, Ash wants reassurance about heaven and the cleric reassures him then hurriedly goes to his sons birthday party leaving Ash alone to commit his act while the Cleric is enjoying himself elsewhere. I think that scene sums the film up, very poignantly written.

I recently caught this film, billed as an action/drama/suspense flick, quite by accident, and immediately wondered why I saw no promo for it...

First off, it was nice to see Sean Bean, who has played some bad ass bad guys (eg. Patriot Games, Goldeneye), get to play the bad ass good guy, Ewan. No other actors were known to me, except for Charlotte Rampling, who was in the short Ghost Recon: Alpha. This was not a disadvantage as all the major and minor characters played their parts well. Rampling in particular did well as the pseudo "M" character.

The movie begins with more drama than action, and enough keeps going wrong, that you begin to wonder if Ewan still should be in this "game." But his ruthlessness (again, pseudo Bond) proves that he should. The plot is heavy with the middle east and terrorism situation and there is a considerable amount of socio-political undercurrent; there is plenty of ruthlessness to go around.

A fair amount of time is used to build suspense and establish motivations, all going to show once again how violence for revenge sake, or any sake for that matter, perpetuates. Pay attention to where there are flashbacks or you might get lost in the details.

The fight scenes seem graphic, not because of blood and gore, so much as for the sound effects. And when the action finally begins to build, it is punctuated with plot twists that underscore the complexities involved.

While ultimately enjoyable to view, the movie is ultimately less action and more drama, and the more realistic for that reason.

The film has violently constructed action and fight sequences. Heads splattering, arms snapped and one of the best head shots I've seen in a long time. The pace is good and Mean Bean is grizzled and grazzled, like he eats broken glass for breakfast and nails for lunch, the bloke looks like he's been shoved through a cement mixer and survived.

The terrorist is good and the guy who plays the assassin maniac who comes from abroad is seriously scary, that blokes eyes make you sh*t yourself.

I enjoyed it, it's a fun genre movie. Not for all the family lol!! and certainly not a date movie, you will not get laid with your lady if you take her to this movie but it's a lads film with a twisty turny ending that makes you know this is pure genre.

what a great film, especially as I really was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. It did not start off like your usual kind of terrorist, hunt and eliminate movie. Almost a few stories going on at once, I thought it was good character development, you have to concentrate to keep up in between the present and past sequences, but that's what made this film different in its style and approach of the topic. I sure we can say that the main terrorist is certainly dead, no no chance of bringing him back, but I would like to see the character of the secret agent continued in a secondary movie with a new task at hand and a cleaned up loyal team (not to give to much away). for my part, I enjoyed this film, like the opening scene, and the end conclusion especially, didn't see it coming at all, although i'm probably not the quickest film analyst on here. Nice, gritty British thriller with an attractive directing style and plot build up.