Fuze, the British crime thriller starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James, shot to the top of the UK streaming trending chart after it was added to Sky Cinema and NOW on Friday 29 May and is now the most-watched film on NOW.
The film moved from cinemas in April to the subscription platforms and, within days of the platform debut, climbed the trending list to become NOW’s most-watched title. Written by Ben Hopkins and directed by David Mackenzie, Fuze is set in London during an evacuation triggered by an unexploded World War II bomb; the military unit called in to defuse the device provides cover for Karalis — the bank robber played by Theo James — and his team to carry out a heist.
The climb on NOW gives the film a measurable post‑theatrical lift: it has translated box‑office exposure into immediate streaming attention. The cast also includes Sam Worthington and Gugu Mbatha‑Raw in supporting roles, a lineup that appears to have helped push viewers to the platform after the cinema release in April.
Critical response has been broadly favourable in aggregate: Rotten Tomatoes currently lists a 73% approval rating from 102 reviews. Several reviews celebrate the film’s momentum and clever construction. One prominent magazine called it a gripping, unpredictable heist that values forward motion over deeper excavation of character, and noted how director David Mackenzie keeps the engine gunned so audiences are less likely to dwell on contrivances.
Other critics underline the film’s design as a high‑gear, twist‑laden exercise. A national paper praised the twist construction and genre‑mixing, describing how writer Ben Hopkins and Mackenzie send actors and genres into collision with a visible relish. An American paper hailed it as twisty and hyper‑efficient, recommending viewers put the brain on mute and enjoy the spectacle. Yet that same appetite for clever turns has drawn a different response: another review gave the film three stars and summed it up as mostly guilty‑pleasure hokum, with some predictable twists among the many.
Those mixed reactions form the friction beneath the streaming numbers. Fuze’s speed into NOW’s top slot shows strong initial viewer interest, but the critical split — energetic and clever on one side, hokey and contrived on the other — suggests two different paths for its long‑term performance. A film that plays as a guilty pleasure can surge on opening weekend of a streaming release, but it can also fall quickly if word‑of‑mouth focuses on its contrivances rather than its momentum.
For viewers wondering where to watch: Fuze is available on Sky Cinema and on the NOW streaming service following its addition on 29 May. The platform placement is the immediate logistical reason for the spike; the film had been in cinemas in April before moving to subscribers only a month later.
The stream‑chart result is clear, and its significance is straightforward: Fuze has proved capable of translating theatrical exposure into immediate streaming traffic. The single most consequential unanswered question now is whether that surge will stick — whether viewers treat Fuze as a one‑time, must‑see dispatch or as a talk‑of‑the‑week title they will recommend. The chart will supply the answer, and for now the film’s mix of high velocity and guilty‑pleasure polish is what keeps it at No. 1.
