‘I’ ON CULTURE
Rami Malek’s new film The Amateur is not really that new. It is a remake of a 1981 film, and things have changed a lot since then. The movie is competent, very well done with good action scenes, but also brings in a new sense of ambivalence to the genre. Ironically, the lead bad guy seems more sympathetic than some of the hero’s supposed allies. As such, this is a thinking person’s revenge action flick.
Charlie Heller (Malek), a top-level cryptanalyst for the CIA, says goodbye to his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) as she goes off to London on a business trip for a few days. A few days later, he is brought into the office of CIA Director O’Brien (Julianne Nicholson) and shown a horrifying video of a hostage situation where his wife is shot down. Suffering from grief, Charlie asks his boss, Moore (Holt McCallany), for training so he can go to Europe and get revenge. Moore sends him for training with violent Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) as mentor who quickly shows Charlie that he is not only terrible at what’s required but is not a killer. Henderson is told to shut Charlie down. But Charlie has help from an agent he has previously communicated with, Inquiline (Caitríona Balfe), and escapes to Europe.
There is a lot of action despite Charlie not being good at violence. As might be expected, Charlie is betrayed by his own people, who have their own agenda. And there is a superb scene at the end as he faces up to Schiller (Michael Stuhlbarg), the leader of the group and the man who killed his wife.
One of the main differences between this and the book by Robert Littell is a current willingness to believe the worst about “our” CIA. Reading through some of the recently released information on the death of John F. Kennedy and some other more recent antics, it is clear that the agency often follows its own agenda. Watching the cool manner that some of the top leaders lie to the very top leadership, as well as to their own people, would have seemed purely fictional 44 years ago when the book was published. These days it seems all too real.
Another twist is the focus on the character of the main players in this drama. Charlie is hurt and angry. He wants revenge. But he is also the kind of person who is not violent. He is told by several people that he is not a killer. But he does do the job, and Malek is a good enough actor to show his torment. This is very much Malek’s movie. Almost all the other characters appear only briefly. He is a superb actor and can carry the film.
Although rare in an action picture, Charlie is a duck out of water. Much of the time it looks like things are out of his control. I was reminded of the last movie I reviewed, A Working Man, where Jason Statham’s character casually bashed around many people; at one time besting more than a half dozen in a close-up fight. Charlie is not like that. But he uses his brains, and that in of itself is fascinating.
The supporting cast, although generally seen only briefly, is exceptional. Brosnahan dies early in the film, although Charlie occasionally visualizes her, but she presents a warm enough decency that we feel bad at her death. Fishburne, a really fine performer, plays the ambivalent mentor really well, trying to obey nasty orders but hating having to do them. Balfe is particularly good as the contact, forced to come out of hiding to help protect Charlie. I liked Nicholson as the CIA chief who gradually comes to realize that her subordinates are trying to play her. And Stuhlbarg is superb in what should have been a simple villain’s role. In some ways, he is the twisted mirror image of Charlie.
This is a solid action film. Not great, although most of the performances are far better than one would expect in this type of movie. Director James Hawes knows how to keep things moving well, mixing character-revealing slower scenes with fast action scenes. It rates a solid B.
So should you go? You could do a lot worse, but this one will probably work as well if you wait until it gets to a streaming service or shows up on cable.