Matthew Butler Hart, the film’s director and co-writer, says they wanted to do something which involved three people together in a room, with both light and dark elements. Out of that grew this understated thriller, combining the influence of 1970s spy movies with a dry sense of humour. You can’t help but be instantly captivated by John. Alex Hassel’s performance is partway between a Bond villain’s private assassin and the suave impertinence of a Jude Law romantic hero. With his moustache and high collar, he is a visual hangover from the 1970s movies he emulates, though an odd, almost unbelievable contrast to his uptight and unmannered brother Sam, played by Nick Rhys. Despite John’s charm, it is Sophie, played by the producer half of Fizz and Ginger, Tori Butler Hart, who is really intriguing. The opening minutes introduce her alongside all the accessories of a single woman living alone: a cat, a glass of wine, a bored phonecall to her mother, and a takeaway order for one. But she is more than a Bridget Jones in waiting. As her home is invaded, she takes events in her stride stoically. Butler Hart is remarkably controlled, conveying Sophie’s thoughts through just a flicker of the eyes or a piercing silence. Tiny details simultaneously flesh out the character and highlight how little we really know about her. She has nothing to cook herself for dinner, but just so happens to have more than one bottle of good whiskey lying around. She has a couple of side-jobs while training to be a counsellor, but is also somehow able to afford a gorgeous loft apartment. Things get dark. But the comedy and domestic details keep it varied. Luke’s thinly-veiled crush on Sophie, her cat named Agatha, and the Crouch End greasy spoon in which John’s would-be assassins bide their time, all keep what could be an outlandish idea grounded in the London we know. The small team and low budget work to the advantage of this feature, keeping everything tightly focused. They could even have shaved off a little more time and an extra location at the end, which goes on a few minutes too long for my taste, making explicit the twist which the audience has already figured out and roaming dangerously close to Johnny English territory in the process. It would be tempting to try and draw comparisons between Two Down and Kingsman, or perhaps more appropriately with 2010’s Wild Target. But what this tightly structured production really reminds me of is the TV show Inside No.9. If you like big twists and tension on a small canvas, Two Down is a masterful example. Fizz and Ginger Films clearly have much to offer British cinema. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.