Fuze

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Fuze, written by Ben Hopkins and directed by David Mackenzie, is a perfect heist movie. It’s filled with fascinating, well-motivated characters, an intricate but understandable plot, thrilling twists, exciting action, and a perfectly satisfying conclusion. A good part of the film is simply character development, with the heroes and villains in a cat-and-mouse game with ever-escalating stakes.

In modern-day London, a WWII-era unexploded bomb is uncovered at a construction site. The military bomb-disposal unit is called in, headed by Major Will Trantor (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). They coordinate with the police, led by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, to evacuate a square mile, and are forced to shut the power down to the area, since the bomb is near a main power conduit.

“As soon as the power is out, the thieves emerge from a nearby flat and get to work drilling through the vault of a bank.”

Meanwhile, a crew of sexy baddies, featuring Sam Worthington and Theo James, has clearly orchestrated these events. As soon as the power is out, the thieves emerge from a nearby flat and get to work drilling through the vault of a bank. Their escape plan is elaborate, involving cameras, drones, sewers, and more. In the aftermath of the heist, it turns out there are layers upon layers to the plan, which come out in the form of double-crosses and an escalating body count. On the side of the military and police, things don’t go smoothly either, as questions pile up about how this could have happened.

The acting in Fuze is superb, with Taylor-Johnson delivering a solid performance as a bomb technician who exudes confidence and command, despite having some clear tragedies in his past. Given his previous roles, you might expect Sam Worthington to come in as the chief bad guy, but here he is kind of a disgruntled second fiddle to the apparent mastermind,  played by James. Kudos to Worthington for taking the seemingly lesser role, which he brings the appropriate level of menace and attitude to. He delivers a certain amount of unsettling tension as to who is really in charge and what the master plan is. Meanwhile, James is a revelation. He’s already done some great work, butt this should help him take a couple of steps up on the Hollywood ladder.