David Mackenzie’s career can look ordinary at first, a mix of films without a clear identity. Yet beneath that surface is a director who works with rare efficiency, shaping stories through atmosphere, economy, and control. Up until now, only Hell or High Water has brought him wide recognition, although Starred Up and Perfect Sense remain fantastic hidden gems. Mackenzie clearly has the skill to deliver either a great James Bond entry or a sweeping medieval epic, but time and again he has been held back by scripts that stumble in amusing, sometimes frustrating ways.
Coming right after Relay, which also premiered at TIFF a year ago and was undone by a baffling final twist, Fuze feels in sync with what we expect from him: efficient, tense, and well-crafted scenes that carry his touch, though built on a structure that is a little unusual.
The story comes from a news report about unexploded World War II bombs, an image that stayed with Mackenzie for years until he finally decided to turn it into a film. It opens with a bomb unearthed in central London, sending authorities into urgent action and forcing a city-wide evacuation. The first half leans into that tension, capturing the logistics, fear, and pressure of a metropolis on edge, before gradually shifting into another kind of thriller altogether (and one a trailer will most likely spoil).
For Mackenzie, this marks the first time he openly aimed for pure entertainment. Even with a modest setup, his intentions are clear from the opening minutes, with a guilty-pleasure title sequence set to a pulsing techno score, full of quick zooms and sharp cuts. It recalls the thrillers of another era, when movies like Inside Man, Jarhead, Three Kings, Miami Vice, The Hurt Locker, and Black Hawk Down were regular studio fare (how far we’ve fallen as a society). Seeing that kind of adult-oriented thriller again feels almost nostalgic, though by the thirty-minute mark cracks start to appear and you begin to wonder if the promise can sustain a feature.
That is when Fuze surprises. Where Relay started strong and collapsed in its final act, Fuze flips the pattern. After a slow opener, it builds strength as it pushes into unexpected territory. By the midpoint, it has turned into an adrenaline rush, the pacing lean and economical, every scene driving forward with purpose. Mackenzie’s craft makes the difference: muscular sound design that surrounds you in tension, editing that keeps the rhythm tight, and suspense sequences that genuinely keep you at the edge of your seat.
The script is still the weak link. Not every twist connects, and the boldest choices may frustrate audiences who expect conventional beats, especially in the underdeveloped threads involving Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s police chief. The actors also never feel completely engaged with the material (both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James skipped the TIFF premiere, which went ahead without a Q&A). Still, despite those obstacles, Mackenzie pulls it together and delivers a film that cooks in its best moments, with one sequence involving fake diamonds standing tall as one of the year’s finest. At 98 minutes it feels brisk, sharper at the finish than at the start. It may begin without much spark, but it evolves into a sharp, efficient ride. Mackenzie once again proves that even with a middling script, he has the craft to give us a great time. Someone really should hand this Scot the keys to the Mission: Impossible reboot.
This is part of Reviews On Reels TIFF 2025 Coverage. Due to the hectic rhythm of a film festival, it may be tweaked in the future.
Still courtesy of TIFF.