Cleanskin, the “outstanding” British thriller starring Sean Bean, has landed a new streaming home in the UK. Released in 2012, the spy thriller stars Bean as Ewan, a Secret Service agent who is tasked with tracking down members of a London-based terrorist group.
Written and directed by Hadi Hajaig, the film features an impressive British cast, including Abhin Galeya, Tuppence Middleton, Charlotte Rampling, James Fox, Shivani Ghai and Michelle Ryan.
Cleanskin was recently added to Netflix, meaning UK viewers with a subscription can now stream the film.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a mixed response and currently holds an approval rating of 53% from 17 reviews.
“There’s a lovely frisson between Bean and Rampling that makes you think what James Bond and M could be,” wrote the Irish Times.
Variety said of the film: “The ambition is laudable even if the execution isn’t as smooth or detailed as it might have been.”
“It plays like a lad-mag fantasy of counterterrorist work, juxtaposing mediocre action scenes with a lot of deadly serious Islamist rhetoric,” penned The Guardian.
Little White Lies wrote: “With a better script editor, this could have been a character-piece comparable, maybe, to Showtime’s Homeland.”
Audiences had a more favourable response to the film, which has a 6.2 out of 10 rating on IMDb, with one user writing: “Yes, this film is absolutely outstanding in many ways.”
Another wrote: “This move pleasantly surprised me. I was expecting a rather mindless ‘lets get the terrorists’ themed action film but was instead treated to a film that, to a limited extent, tried to explore the motivations of the main characters whilst still maintaining the feel and pace of an action movie.”
One fan of the film added: “I can assert without question that Cleanskin absolutely sets the standard and quality level of a top action film. If you really enjoy action movies Cleanskin is not to miss.”
Cleanskin is available to stream on Netflix.