Rating:
Summary: A revenge thriller with a non-action hero (intellectual-hero?) as its star. A fairly by-the-numbers entry, with an underused star-studded cast, that entertains without being anything more.
In the age of streaming movies, it's refreshing to see something like "The Amateur" get a theatrical release because when it comes down to it, this is the kind of movie that Netflix is churning out every couple of months.
Rami Malek stars as Charlie Heller, a CIA decoder whose wife, the criminally underused Rachel Brosnahan, is killed by terrorists. The story then sees Heller seek revenge by attempting to take out his wife's killers, despite having zero skills in the action stakes. He does have other skill sets that come in handy, but this is very much an amateur spy trying to do spy things and not always doing it with poise.
"The Amateur" features an amazing cast, despite most of them having very little screen time. Not including the aforementioned Rachel Brosnahan, we also have Julianne Nicholson, Jon Bernthal, Holt McCallany, and Michael Stuhlbarg, all accomplished actors having bit parts, and while there is more to do for Laurence Fishburne, Charlie's mentor, and Caitríona Balfe, you feel that their talents could have been used to better effect. Now, if this was a miniseries, then I can definitely see how this talented group could have made something quite remarkable, but two hours just wasn't enough time.
The movie does take some time to get started, but once it gets going, it breezes through. And it's a fairly straight forward story, and you kind of expect a bit more, given that it is a spy thriller (I had half expected a twist surrounding the death of Charlie's wife at one point), but I think that's not the point of the movie. Instead, it's about dealing with unexpected loss, and stepping out of one's comfort zones to deal with adversity, but still never losing one's self. The fact that Charlie isn't a Liam Neeson or Jason Bourne video game main character type that can wreak havoc without a scratch, is kind of refreshing. He is a super hacker without being completely unrealistic in the things he does, like being able to hack the Pentagon via his smartwatch or something equally ridiculous.
Technically, the film is well made and the set pieces exciting. As long as you're not expecting too much from a film that would normally have a home on streaming, and I think it will definitely find a large audience on Disney+ once it makes its way there, then "The Amateur" is a perfectly enjoyable action thriller.
"The Amateur" is in cinemas on 10 April 2024. Streaming release date: TBA
