The Amateur

Grade: C

I tend to resist action movies. I had never seen Jason Statham in anything until last year, when I decided to give The Beekeeper a chance. I liked it. I can describe The Amateur as what I was afraid The Beekeeper would be like. It tries to be so clever, it’s implausible when it’s not boring, and Rami Malek – who I like quite a bit – is wooden, lifeless, and out of his element.

Malek is a CIA data analyst named Charles Heller. His wife Sarah has been taken hostage and murdered while on a business trip in London. Heller knows some information that his bosses would rather not have released into the world, so he’s able to blackmail his way into getting the intel and training he needs to personally take out the people responsible for his wife’s death. The man assigned to the job is Robert Henderson, played by Laurence Fishburne in another of the movie’s wooden performances. Henderson seems to have a video game character’s ability to show up anytime, anywhere.

Much is made throughout the dialogue about how Charles is not a killer, yet he’s surprisingly adept at suddenly rising to the occasion. His tech knowledge has limitless capability, as he’s not only able to pull out every possible trick to throw his superiors off the trail so they can’t track him, but he also rigs up incredibly intricate ways to get the upper hand with the assassins. He systematically picks them off one by one, building up to a final showdown with the man most responsible. The trailer gives you the gist of two of the kills.

I’d like to think Malek is a fine actor – in fact I hope so, because he’s so appealing. His Oscar win was for a music biopic. He was amazing in it, even if that kind of performance is easy awards bait. What I’ve seen of him since then has been in minor supporting appearances in large ensembles (Amsterdam, Oppenheimer), so I haven’t gotten the best gauge. He’s not great in The Amateur, but a few people are. His superiors are effectively played by Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw) and Julianne Nicholson (Janet Planet, Dream Scenario). We see enough of Rachel Brosnahan – as Sarah – to grow to like her enough to find her fate a tragic one, and get us on board with the mission.

Some much-needed life is injected into the final act via the last accomplice Charles has on his list to confront. It’s Sean Schiller, played by the prolific character actor Michael Stuhlbarg. His work as the father in Call Me By Your Name is one of my favorite performances not nominated for an Oscar. Alas, the scene dissolves into more forced cleverness. With some likable actors in the cast, creative kills, and a plot that sounded interesting, I was optimistic they might pull it off, but sadly, The Amateur is like something you’d see in the “previously viewed tapes” aisle at Blockbuster for $6 and be like “What’s this? Why haven’t I heard of it?”

Grade: C