THE AMATEUR -- Surprisingly Solid Airport Thriller Cinema

Review by Daniel Lima

It says nothing good about American culture that the fantasy of one man enacting violent revenge on his wife's killer has been so pervasive. At first glance, The Amateur appears to be just another middling entry into a somewhat suspect canon. To my own surprise, it is a more textured and measured film than I had thought possible, even as it makes all too familiar missteps.

Rami Malek plays an introverted, socially awkward CIA analyst whose wife is killed in a terrorist action. When his bosses dismiss his plea to target the men who kill her, he strikes off on his own to achieve his vengeance.

The drive of The Amateur is less the rush of retributive justice, and more the satisfaction of a job well. This is a process thriller, reveling in the details of how a technically proficient non-combatant can both evade the all-encompassing US surveillance state, and accomplish his fatal deeds. To that end, the film's pace is controlled and methodical, spending plenty of time on the psyche of the titular neophyte before he decides to take charge.

Even then, the form that takes is almost bereft of action, barring some cursory fistfights. The tension comes from this character, a desk jockey who is nearly incapable of firing a gun, devising a method of execution he can stomach as his CIA bosses attempt to leash him. Whether learning to pick a lock on the fly, or bearing down on his target as another hunter bears down on him, the film resists the temptation of rapid fire editing and shaky cam. Instead, every scene moves forward patiently and legibly, but always forward. There’s never a sense of idleness or haste, and that unfussy approach recalls the propulsive studio potboilers of decades past.

The actual narrative is bog standard, but serviceable. That the film is so deliberately paced lends Malek’s quest a sense of importance that eludes many a similar direct-to-video action-thriller, with the film often taking a break from the intrigue to give him a quiet moment to reflect on his lost love. It’s unfortunate, then, that the star is Rami Malek, an actor with a chronic inability to portray human emotion. His typical disaffected mumble acting style works well enough for this character, but the moments that are supposed to ground the espionage in real pathos fall flat because of him. He is, as usual, the weak link in an otherwise strong ensemble.

As entertaining as the story is, it is frustrating how it waffles on articulating a worldview, or a cohesive thematic through line. Much of the film is spent questioning Malek’s desire for revenge, whether it’s truly helpful in a personal or cosmic sense, and the significance of ending a human life. There’s also a slight critique of the US government’s own penchant for extrajudicial violence, and the carte blanche that covert operations are accorded.

These are interesting subjects to explore (and as relevant as ever), but the film ultimately pump fakes actually engaging with them. Malek’s revenge quest concludes in a way that rings a false note considering the journey he had went through, and the moral perspective on the CIA’s power is jarringly toothless. Perhaps the source material is a bit more provocative in taking an actual stance on these ideas, but there’s a limit to how far a modern studio summer release will go in either admonishing or supporting these brands of violence. If it had, it may have been more impactful.

Yet it is hard to be too hard on The Amateur for a lack of thematic heft, or emotional resonance, because that was not the assignment. Where this film does succeed is in making a solid, meat-and-potatoes, airport thriller cinema. Its primary concern is not heady ruminations on the nature of violence, but constructing little puzzle boxes for the nerdy guy to squeeze his way out of through sheer smarts. That it accomplishes that with assuredness and poise, in the cinematic landscape of today, is a cause for small celebration. 

The Amateur arrives in theaters 4/11.

Rating: 3.5/5