DISCLAIMER: I was invited to attend a special advance screening of the film. However, 20th Century Studios had no editorial involvement in the creation of this review. They are reading this review for the first time, just like you.
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| Photo by John Wilson. © 2024 20th Century Studios |
“The Amateur” takes a familiar revenge thriller and slows it down, opting for brains over brawn. Directed by James Hawes and based on Robert Littell’s novel of the same name, it trades the usual bullet-heavy spectacle for something quieter and more calculated, a spy story driven by grief, intellect, and surveillance, not fists or firepower.
Rami Malek plays Charlie Heller, a CIA cryptographer whose life is upended when his wife is killed in a London bombing. When the agency drags its feet on justice, he takes matters into his own hands, not with a gun, but with codes, strategy, and a stubborn refusal to let it go. It’s a premise that sounds fresh on paper, especially in a genre that’s usually allergic to subtlety. But in practice, it doesn’t quite land the emotional punch it’s aiming for.
Watching “The Amateur” feels a bit like being on a long bus ride to the province. You’re stuck with it, hoping it gets better because, well, the trip is long. You try to invest in what’s happening on screen, even try rooting for the characters, because you’re already there. But by the time the movie ends, you’re like, okay, next. There’s no real crash, no huge disappointment. The film just didn’t quite arrive where I wanted it to.
And that’s the thing: it’s not bad. It’s fine. But it’s also forgettable, because it keeps you at arm’s length. For a film about personal loss and obsession, it’s oddly detached.
Malek, though, is electric. Imagine Elliot from Mr. Robot if he worked for the CIA. There’s a twitchiness to him, a restrained urgency that makes you want to lean in. His face does most of the heavy lifting here, calculating, hurting, resisting the urge to break. It’s easily one of his more grounded and human performances.
The film runs a bit over two hours, and while slow burns can be great when they earn it, this one overstays its welcome. With all that runtime, you’d think there’d be more space to deepen its characters, but the supporting cast ends up stranded. Rachel Brosnahan, as Heller’s wife, exists mainly to die and launch the plot. It’s a lazy setup, and the film barely gives her enough life to make her loss feel real. Jon Bernthal is underused and underwritten. He walks into scenes like he’s supposed to matter, but the script never gives him anything that sticks. And while Laurence Fishburne shares some of the best moments with Malek, their dynamic is barely explored.
The plot also leans on a few too many conveniences, twists and turns that only work if you squint and let logic slide. And you will have to squint, because some of them are a stretch.
Still, there’s something admirable in the attempt. “The Amateur” wants to rethink the revenge thriller. It wants to ask what happens when the guy out for justice isn’t a trained killer, but a desk guy with no real plan and nothing left to lose. That angle alone deserves credit. I just wish the film let us feel his desperation more deeply, instead of just observing it from a distance.
For all its smarts,
“The Amateur” plays it safe when it should’ve gone off the rails. It tries to
be cerebral, but not emotional. Tense, but not brutal. And in the process, it
ends up doing just enough to pass, but not enough to stay with you. —
WALPHS.com