I’m usually not one for action movies — I often get bored of long fight scenes and get lost in the plot that is overshadowed by violence. However, “The Amateur” proved to me that action movies can be much more than guns and fist fights. Released April 11, “The Amateur” displays a unique plot filled with suspense, skill and just enough violence to keep it interesting.
“The Amateur” follows CIA agent Charles Heller (Rami Malek), a tech genius at the bottom of the CIA chain. As Heller begins uncovering hidden information, he is informed of his wife’s murder and is left distraught. Unstable, unconfident and with nothing to lose, Heller decides he has to get revenge on his wife’s killers. However, there’s one issue — he’s not a killer himself. He begins his journey relying on his wits and a bit of luck to fulfill his plan, not knowing if his life can ever return to normal.
Going into this movie, I had high expectations for Malek. While admittedly I haven’t seen “Bohemian Rhapsody,” I was very aware of his award-winning performance as Freddie Mercury. I’ll just put it simply: he lived up to the hype. I don’t think this movie would have been as engaging or well done as it was if it were any other actor. Malek perfectly portrayed the villain arc of someone accustomed to a nonviolent lifestyle. It was clear that Heller was scared of what he would try to do and what could become of him, and Malek captured the constant fear held in his eyes along with the crazed confidence of a makeshift assassin. One critique I would have about his performance, though, is that the grief from losing his wife was hardly addressed. He went through the denial stage of grief fairly clearly at the beginning, but after that, it was short bursts of emotion before the camera cut away. Since the movie’s entire premise is Heller acting because of his grief, I expected the actual grief to be shown much more. Instead, once the action started, his sadness seemed to disappear.
As I mentioned before, I get easily tired of typical action and spy movies that surround large fights, and “The Amateur” escaped that narrative. Because of Heller’s fear of directly pointing a gun at a person to get the job done, he had to configure alternative methods with his knowledge from working in tech with the CIA. While I liked the premise of this, a lot of these actions and plot points seemed awfully convenient. Heller did blackmail money from his higher-ups to get by, but the amount of traveling and shopping he had to do would’ve required an obscene amount. Each day he seemed to be in a new country, at a new hotel, with a new burner phone. He was also shown briefly making new weapons, but others he seemed to pull out of his back pocket whenever they were useful to him. Though the constant movement made the movie more exciting, it would’ve been done better in one location with a reliable, thought-out storyline.
Overall, I largely enjoyed watching “The Amateur.” It was a refreshing break from typical cookie-cutter violent movies, but this idea can’t carry everything. The film would’ve been much more engaging if they had taken time to explore the emotion and the small details that come with an idea this intricate. “The Amateur” simply serves as a reminder that details and consistency really do matter.
“The Amateur:” ★★★★☆
