| Worth seeing: | as a tense, if not always convincing revenge thriller, masquerading at times as a travel guide |
| Director: | James Hawes |
| Featuring: | Rami Malek, Adrian Martinez, Anita Anand, Caitriona Balfe, Danny Sapani, Holt McCallany, Jon Bernthal, Julianne Nicholson, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Stuhlbarg, Rachel Brosnahan |
| Length: | 123 minutes |
| Certificate: | 12A |
| Country: | US |
| Released: | 11th April 2025 |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Charlie (Rami Malek) is a data analyst and cryptographer for the CIA. He watches screens, crunches numbers, looks for patterns – but never gets to leave the office on business. He generally keeps himself to himself, so he’s a bit taken aback when Deputy Director Moore (Holt McCallany) takes him up to the Director’s office, to be told that his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) has been killed in a terror attack in London.
The higher-ups don’t take him seriously when he says he wants to be trained up to hunt down his wife’s killers. They take him a bit more seriously when he reveals that he’s caught them carrying out illegal operations in the field, but when they send him for training with Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne), they have no intention of letting him loose in the field.
But he gets loose in the field and one-by-one, he starts to track down Sarah’s killers.
As the amateur agent closes in on the fourth and final terrorist, the CIA are closing in on him.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
At its best, The Amateur has the feel of one of those 1970s conspiracy thrillers, where everyone seems to have it in for the hero, whether it’s the terrorists or the CIA. One man against the world with anyone offering him help putting themselves in danger.
At its worst, the narrative isn’t particularly coherent or convincing and Rami Malek himself isn’t the warmest screen presence for us to empathise with.
It can’t decide whether it wants to be a revenge thriller or a conspiracy thriller and it tries to follow too many other films – such as Bonds and Bournes – by sending a spy to multiple holiday destinations, giving it as much the feel of a travel show as a Hollywood blockbuster.
As an amateur agent, you might expect him to make the most of his cryptography skills, but he seems to pick up secret agenting so comfortably, it renders his amateur status moot.
It’s entertaining and fast-paced but feels increasingly arch as it progresses, and the final confrontation with his nemesis is so out-of-kilter with reality that no real-life hero or villain would act anything like either of them.