The war against spots and blemishes has only just begun. That would be the tagline if this were indeed Clearasil: The Movie, but thankfully it's not.

Instead it's the latest entry in a growing number of films about terrorism on our home soil. This one however, holds no promise of rides on rubber dinghy rapids.

Having done his time in the army, Ewan (Sean Bean) now finds himself fighting the fight back home as a secret service agent. His handler is the mature Charlotte (Charlotte Rampling), who gives him the targets that have come up on their radar. Not that it's that easy though, as the enemy is training a new breed of terrorist; one that has no previous record of terrorist behaviour, known as 'cleanskins'.

Ash (Abhin Galeya) used to study law, but became disillusioned. Over the years he found himself being groomed for terrorist missions, until he found himself in a position he couldn't back out of.

With no terrorist activity to date recorded against him, Ash can move freely to do what he wants. Ewan's mission is akin to chasing a ghost, but with his hardcore training, no one is truly invisible.

So tell me, are you the **** that wrote me out of Game of Thrones?

This film could have easily gone down the bland action thriller route, but director and writer Hadi Hajaig has gone for something more cerebral and with more depth. In doing so however, the film loses sight of what it's trying to achieve.

It's interesting that the film focuses more on the Ash character; with the use of some overly long flashbacks, his back story is fleshed out, giving it an almost 'Anakin Skywalker's destiny was always to be seduced by the dark side' approach. It just falls short of being sympathetic, but it does portray this terrorist-in-training as at least being human.

Sean Bean's character isn't so lucky. Ewan's back story is taken care of swiftly; he was a soldier and he was married. That's about it. There's no real intent to reveal how he got to be the man he is now, which may well have been a missed opportunity to dig a little deeper into his psyche.

The story is also little unnecessarily clunky, which leads to some displays of melodrama – or in other words, some really poor acting. Still, all the leads, particularly Galeya, put in solid performances. They're helped by quite possibly the poshest supporting cast in some time, which includes Rampling, James Fox and relative newcomer Tuppance Middleton.

Bean must be smarting somewhat though; not only is his character less defined than his terrorist foe, but he must be narked at not only his exit from Game of Thrones, but also that someone like Liam Neeson appears to be going through the kind of professional purple patch that Bean can only dream of.

Where Hajaig shines though is in some assured directing: he not only gives the film an overall sheen of professionalism, he also directs some well-choreographed action scenes; it's just a pity there weren't more of them.

Writer/director Hajaig should at the very least be applauded for attempting to do something different with his terrorist tale. The irony is of course, with the flashes of brilliance he shows with the action sequences, the film as a whole may have benefited from simply being an action flick.

However in a growing arena of films about terrorism, Cleanskin comes very close to hitting the right spot.