Sean Bean stars as a British spy attempting to take down a home-grown terrorist ring in Cleanskin, a film with decent action sequences, but a story trying to be too clever for its own good.
The story here is typical spy stuff of the modern age. We have a terrorist ring, a seemingly innocent boy corrupted and radicalised by a nutter terrorist, and a web of lies and secrets that gets ever more tangled as the film goes on.
It is really generic. And they try to say something about how kids are radicalised, yet the guy isn't developed, interesting, or sympathetic enough for it to have any impact.
Fortunately, Sean Bean is excellent, as always. He's a troubled operative who has seen his fair share of killing. He's tired of innocent people getting hurt and wants to destroy all those who do it - whatever their reasons.
Most of his acting is done with his face, not with words. He carries the weight of it all there. His eyes are sad and angry. His expression seemingly tired of the violence, but knowing he can't escape it.
The actor who plays the bad guy isn't as good, and comes across as a dumb fool being led around by his beliefs more than anything. They tried to make him interesting, yet he comes across as impotent. A shame really, cause the kid is a good actor. He's just working against a script that doesn't give him his due.
The action scenes are good, although a shaky camera that zooms in too close keeps getting in the way.
Then we have all the "twists" and "turns" of the story. They're not good and are very badly laid out. It all doesn't make much sense in the end, and a news broadcast tries unsuccessfully to tie it all together.
It's worth seeing once if you're a fan of Sean Bean and action. No more than that, really. The story is just too much of a mess to keep you truly engaged.
It's a shame too, since Bean makes an excellent go of it. Everything else lets him down.
The story here is typical spy stuff of the modern age. We have a terrorist ring, a seemingly innocent boy corrupted and radicalised by a nutter terrorist, and a web of lies and secrets that gets ever more tangled as the film goes on.
It is really generic. And they try to say something about how kids are radicalised, yet the guy isn't developed, interesting, or sympathetic enough for it to have any impact.
Fortunately, Sean Bean is excellent, as always. He's a troubled operative who has seen his fair share of killing. He's tired of innocent people getting hurt and wants to destroy all those who do it - whatever their reasons.
Most of his acting is done with his face, not with words. He carries the weight of it all there. His eyes are sad and angry. His expression seemingly tired of the violence, but knowing he can't escape it.
The actor who plays the bad guy isn't as good, and comes across as a dumb fool being led around by his beliefs more than anything. They tried to make him interesting, yet he comes across as impotent. A shame really, cause the kid is a good actor. He's just working against a script that doesn't give him his due.
The action scenes are good, although a shaky camera that zooms in too close keeps getting in the way.
Then we have all the "twists" and "turns" of the story. They're not good and are very badly laid out. It all doesn't make much sense in the end, and a news broadcast tries unsuccessfully to tie it all together.
It's worth seeing once if you're a fan of Sean Bean and action. No more than that, really. The story is just too much of a mess to keep you truly engaged.
It's a shame too, since Bean makes an excellent go of it. Everything else lets him down.