Cleanskin

If you're expecting James Bond, or even Jason Bourne, you've come to the wrong place. This is a brutally realistic film about how both sides in the so-called 'War on Terror' bend every rule of civilized conduct in order to further their own questionable ends. It's a story about people who have absolutely no doubt that their ends justify the means... even though those 'ends' long ago ceased being particularly noble, if indeed they ever were.

The story concerns the journey of one Middle Eastern man from political agnostic to suicide commando. His compelling, if fairly obvious, tale is counterpointed against the gradual awakening of the British assassin sent to track him down, operating well outside the rules of police work or even espionage.

There are no laughs in this movie, no car chases. There is extreme violence, and a lot of incentive to question the purpose of that violence. The characters are strong, as is the message. Unfortunately, those who most need to hear that message are likely to either avoid this film entirely, or conveniently misunderstand it.

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.

I saw this film in my local Tesco store, the misses saw Sean Bean on the cover and before I knew it, it was coming down the conveyor belt. I was quite impressed with this movie, considering I had not seen it advertised previous. It has a lot of action and some of the stunts are better placed in one of the bigger US flicks so was really impressed by those. Sean has such a natural ease at playing these sorts of characters, and almost felt sympathy for both the hunter and the hunted as the film progressed. There are also a couple of other recognisable stars which almost play a lesser role considering their wider film experience, this was quite an interesting casting approach. We both agree that it was money well spent, but will probably go for a softer more light hearted movie in the weeks to come, good insightful viewing though.

A great performance from not only Sean but also the girl (Tuppence?), and it was nice to see Peter Polycarpou back on our screen!

cleanskin will appeal to a wide audience, not just those who are still recovering from 7/7 (which i couldn't stop thinking about whilst watching) and it's helpful seeing the side from the "good guy" and the side from the "bad guy".

having lived in London when i was younger, it was nice to see some of the landmarks i visited as a kid, so it seems they really went out of their way to keep the realism in the film. it could have easily been filmed in a film studio but it wasn't, which makes it home more for me.

Still the scenes linger in the memory after i watched them.