Cleanskin (2012)

Admirable film.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

Cleanskin is a well directed piece about the contemporary issue of 'home grown' terrorism in the UK. All sides are portrayed with a degree of neutrality, without the usual stereotyping of similar films such as those from the US.Some scenes do jar a little, or beg for some explanation, however.Sean Bean's character is noted as a veteran of British military service in Afghanistan and, whilst visiting the funeral of a dead soldier, who we are led to believe he served with (Bean apparently an officer or warrant-officer by another character's reference to him as 'sir'), another disabled veteran stumbles away from the service feeling somewhat sorry for himself, only to be stopped by Bean, who straightens him up and makes him realise his own situation isn't that dire. Here's the conundrum though. As the other man hobbles away down the aisle, we see a photo of the dead soldier, complete with red beret, denoting service with the Parachute Regiment. When talking with Bean, he asks him about 'the Regiment'. That sort of phrase is more suited to talk about the SAS, frequently referred to as 'the Regiment', especially by those within it. A minor flaw of sorts as one could surmise that this young man is referring to the Parachute Regiment, although much less likely.Another scene where Abhin Galeya, the 'home grown' terrorist is talking with the usual firebrand extremist cleric in a flashback scene about going to Afghanistan to learn how to 'do useful things' as the cleric puts it. Nothing is made of this, although I suspect the film's budget had something to do with that particular concept.One final thing that was a little off was the whole 'false flag' twist towards the end. It did little to carry the story along as Charlotte Rampling's character was amoral enough to have been merely corrupt rather than willing to instigate terror acts for her own agenda. This smacked of a paranoid patriot US style storyline which I felt detracted from the overall feel of the thing.These issues aside, the various twists and turns and brief violent scenes along with the psychological stress suffered by many within the film, especially Ewan (Bean) and Ash (Abhin Galeya) really do the film justice. Tom Burke's role as Ewan's erstwhile partner, Mark is another nice subplot as is the character Kate, Ash's sometime love interest played by Tuppence Middleton.All in all, a well made, topical film well worth a watch.

The production value in this movie is outstanding given the budget that they had to work with. Solid performances throughout the entire cast, and who doesn't like to see Sean Bean kick some major butt!There was some pretty great action sequences in this movie, but do not go into this movie thinking that it is a full on action flick.We also see the complexity of Ash, as he is changes from a normal University student to a brainwashed terrorist. It's on Netflix too, so you should watch it when you get a chance! I highly recommend this movie to fans of Taken, James Bond, or anything Sean Bean!

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.