Fuze

There’s a built-in tension with heist movies — are we rooting for the robbers, as in The Thomas Crown Affair, or the authorities trying to stop them, like Die Hard? That’s often clearly defined by the characters we’re first introduced to, or at least the ones we spend more time with. Fuze gives these conventions a twist, since we start out with the military and police side of things, and only gradually get to know the men pulling off the caper, who seem to have little back story to speak of. As the elaborate plot is revealed, we get to know the criminals bit by bit, and it all builds to a satisfying conclusion. In fact, a coda after the main plot is finished ties the motivations of the characters up in a bow so perfectly that it feels like a bolt of lightning. I’ve never quite seen this in a film, where your ambiguity about who to root for, or characters’ motivations, is so decisively erased after the main plot of the film is done.

“The direction and editing are outstanding …”

Hopkins’s screenplay is superb, which is no small feat in a heist thriller. Often, motivations and justifications for characters’ actions are underdeveloped to pack in more action and mayhem. There can be a tendency to over-plot, where twists don’t seem to be motivated by reality, but instead by what the writer needs to happen. Fuze flirts with this — sometimes, seemingly random things happen, which are anticipated by the bad guys in ways that seem a little too convenient. Still, it is defensible if you assume some of them had a massive contingency plan, even plans and backup plans for the inevitable double-cross.

The direction and editing are outstanding. Fuze is taut, propulsive, and yet characters are given exactly enough room to develop in a satisfying way, with no fat, and nothing left to cut. This is not a ponderous movie where you can possibly fall asleep in. It is fast-paced, smart, and innovative. Despite a century of heist tropes, there is something fresh and exciting here.

Fuze premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.