Screenwriter Dwain Worrell has put together a tough, well-carpentered thriller, directed by Doug Liman, about a US soldier in the dying days of the Iraq war who is stranded in the desert and engaged in a Spielbergian duel with an unseen Iraqi sniper who has him pinned down next to a shattered wall. According to the vengeful sharpshooter, who has hacked into the soldier’s radio comms, that wall is what remains of an important building. Is he telling the truth?

It’s a smart piece of work, and if it occasionally feels like the world’s best film-school project, that is part of its intelligent minimalism. Perhaps it only really comes into own in its final minutes. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the US soldier, Sgt Isaac, who shows up at an oil pipeline to find the civilian contractors and their military liaison all lying dead. Somewhere below the horizon is the worryingly proficient killer. But where? Soon the situation escalates out of control and Isaac can’t be sure whether the 7th Cavalry are coming to help.

Maybe a more experienced writer would have developed and varied the relationship between Isaac and the unknown voice. At any rate, it’s an eerie, menacing film.