Cleanskin (15)

Starring: Sean Bean, Abhin Galeya

Hadi Hajaig's thriller covers some of the same ground as Chris Morris's comedy Four Lions but without the slightest hint of irony or humour.

Home-grown terrorists have stolen some Semtex and are busy blowing up parts of London. Hajaig shows effectively just what turns clean-cut law student Ash (Abhin Galeya) into an extremist determined to wreak havoc. Initially, there's a depth of characterisation that you don't normally find in action movies. The lines between heroes and villains are blurred. Sean Bean's rugged secret agent is every bit as sadistic and brutal as his Muslim terrorist antagonists. Hajaig stages the fights, chases and explosions with flair, but the plotting grows so preposterous and the direction so heavy-handed that all nuance and subtlety are soon squashed.