The Amateur: A Solid Mid Budgeter Delivering Thrills (Early Review)

From director James Hawes, The Amateur is a spy thriller that places star Rami Malek in a much different position than from what audiences have grown accustomed to seeing the actor. The story centers around a man named Charlie Heller (Malek), a CIA cryptologist who loses his wife Sarah (Brosnahan) following a London terrorist attack. Realizing that his bosses have chosen not to retaliate, due to conflicting internal priorities, he decides to blackmail the agency into training him as a field operative. From there, Heller would embark on a one-man mission to hunt down his wife’s killers. Coming off the heels of recent the mid budget adult thriller, Black Bag, this type of story has been one that has typically gotten the longform treatment across television. Therefore, seeing the story given the same treatment, as a feature, is beyond refreshing, perfectly executed over the course of a 2-hour film that is sure to be a big crowd pleaser among older audiences.

The Amateur delivers an engaging and thrilling narrative with clever plotting, offering plenty of twists and turns that help it stand out against the usual, average techno-revenge thrillers. That being said, the film is not what one might consider a straight up action film. However, the few action sequences present here are not only intense but also well shot, and provide a satisfying payoff as its revenge plot escalates. Based on the book of the same name by Robert Littell, Hawes and writers Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli refreshingly keep this story fairly grounded and not try to make it into something more, like it easily could have, and how many others have often done in the past. It is worth commending how the film avoids making Heller into a Jason Bourne or John Wick type badass assassin, something that proved to be the right choice, raising the stakes even higher.

A great role for Malek, he responds with arguably his best performance since his Oscar-winning turn in Bohemian Rhapsody. Showing off a completely different side of himself as an actor, Heller fits him like a glove. Working well with the rest of the cast, a large portion of audiences will likely find themselves rooting for him as he attempts to outsmart the CIA and exact his revenge of his wife’s killers. Meanwhile, Malek is backed up by a great supporting cast featuring the likes of Brosnahan, Julianne Nicholson, and Holt McCallany, who are once again reliable. Ultimately, it is Fishburne and Caitriona Balfe who are the biggest standouts for reasons that veer into spoilery territory as it relates to their respective roles in the plot and how they are connected to Malek’s Heller.

In the end, there isn’t much to complain about but that doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t without faults. While Jon Bernthal is always a welcomed addition to any film or television series, his limited role in this film, though great, could have been completely cut from the film with little circumstance. Regardless of what the film has to offer, it doesn’t bring anything new or different to the table. Far from what audiences have seen countless times before, what sets the film apart, however, is its execution of that familiar. The Amateur doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel, it is a solid action thriller that, if successful enough, could very well spawn a litany of more mid budget fare in the near future.

The Amateur is the type of film that should be applauded and one worth supporting if audiences want to see more films like this and not only the big budget IP-driven blockbusters that will always be there, for better or worse.

still courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/