I highly recommend this movie; it's quick paced, well acted & directed; production values are really good, despite the low budget; gore and sfx are really top notch! It's a very lean, fast paced dystopian action movie, full of plot twists and expert direction & photography.

"Don't forget the standing ovation" joked director Ali F Mostafa as he introduced the world premiere of his film 'The Worthy' at the 2016 London Film Festival. He may not have received that, but there was definitely warm applause from the audience at the end of his dystopian thriller.

You've seen the basic plot in countless other films: a group of people hiding from the horrors of the outside world are picked off, one-by-one, by a hidden enemy. What makes this film different is it is from the United Arab Emirates: this reviewer tends to think of Arab films as mostly featuring villagers fretting about dried-up wells or similar - in short, unlikely to appeal to Western audiences outside of the filmsnob festival circuit. But the Saturday night multiplex crowd would find much to enjoy in this offering.

The film is very atmospheric: the survivors are holed-up in a derelict aircraft factory, which provides a pleasingly grim backdrop to the action. There are some inventive fatalities (death by water tower!) and the stock characters are all present and correct: handsome hero, feisty female, creepy bald loner... it is also nice to see Arab women given action heroine roles.

On a deeper level this works as a read-across to the real-life Middle East's experiences with the Taliban, Daesh, etc: self-important factions fight it out while ordinary citizens are caught in the middle. But it is also a thrill-a-minute ride with a good explanation for why the attackers do what they do: as the final survivor strides off into the sunset, I could not help but hope their story is continued in a sequel.

Not long ago he charmed us with City of Life, an almost true to life depiction of life in Dubai. This time imminent Emirati director Ali F Mostafa grabs our attention with a premonition of what could happen in the not so distant future.

Set in a derelict dystopia where clean water has become a precious commodity (if it isn't already, time to wake up people!) The Worthy opens with a warning and in it a protruding message about the fate of humanity. The first fifteen minutes is also a warning that violence will be brutal, bloody, and at times extremely unforgiving. We are then introduced to about ten survivors living in an abandoned aircraft factory. They have a huge water tank but low on ammunition, thus making them sitting ducks for drifters. With the palette already dark and dusty, the arrival of two mysterious strangers escalates the film into a bottomless pit of spectacular chaos.

Shot mostly in a single location, what follows is a deadly game of cat-and-mouse where one by one, characters are picked-off in gruesome death traps. While the fates of these characters are somewhat predictable, why they are being killed forms the central message in the film. As such, it won't take long for viewers to realise that the theme on water scarcity is just the outer layer of this diabolical thriller that finds its footing in slasher territory. That the makers seem to have had free reign on death scenes is evident in violence that is almost on par with carnage in the Saw films. Even so, repetitiveness is kept to a minimum in favour of keeping the action grounded and beautifully choreographed.

With an ensemble cast and a credible script from horror writer Vikram Veet, The Worthy may feel familiar to the post-apocalyptic canon but it's still a commendable effort and a leap forward in Arab cinema. Like City of Life before (including actors from that film),The Worthy is built on a platform of philosophical ironies that many may not see at first. But it's there and waiting to be discovered, just like the emerging Arab film market. And judging from the applause at the end of this screening, it also shows that Emirati cinema can be distinctly Arabic and strangely alluring at the same time.