‘The Amateur’ pits Rami Malek’s twitchy codebreaker against terrorists—and his own agency—in a sleek but uneven revenge thriller.
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
A remake of a 1981 film that had some fans, “The Amateur” features Academy Award-winner Rami Malek as its scrawny, tech-geek CIA employee seeking vengeance against terrorists who murdered his wife. Based on a novel by Robert Littell (TV’s “Legends”), this new “Amateur” has been reworked by London-born director James Hawes of TV’s “Slow Horses” and adapted by Ken Nolan (“Only the Brave”) and Gary Spinelli (“American Made”).
Malek brings his brand of bug-eyed intensity and jittery nerves to the role originated by a seething John Savage (“The Deer Hunter,” “Salvador”). We meet Charlie Heller (Malek) as he assembles an engine for a vintage Cessna that his beloved wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan, the screen’s newest Lois Lane) gifts him. They live an idyllic life in a rural area outside Washington, D.C., where Charlie works in “decryption and analysis” at a restricted level within the CIA. We see the faces of everyone coming and going being scanned—”The Amateur” has high-tech cloak-and-dagger in its DNA.
As in the original, Sarah, who is seen in flashbacks and visions, is killed by terrorists while on a trip to London. Charlie wants his superiors, including the physically imposing Director Moore (Holt McCallany, Netflix’s “Mindhunter”) and Caleb (Danny Sapani), to track down and kill her killers. That is not their immediate goal. Charlie, who will travel to London, Paris, Marseilles, Istanbul, and more, is on a quest for revenge. He demands to be trained and is assigned to a reluctant CIA operative Henderson (Morpheus himself Laurence Fishburne), shades of “An Officer and Gentleman.” Charlie consults a computer source dubbed Mr. Inquiline when he wants to inquire about spooks and terrorists. He does not know the source’s real identity. But we assume he will learn more in the field.
As it turns out, “The Amateur” is a mix of a “Jason Bourne” and “Mission: Impossible” type with a hero who is not your usual James Bond. In the Bourne films, the hero is a young and relatively innocent American who discovers he has this whole set of killer skills, sort of the revenge thriller version of Spider-Man, instead of a jaded, supremely confident Brit secret agent. Charlie digs up Black Ops dirt on Moore, Caleb, and the agency and uses it to force them to do what he wants, which is to kill Sarah’s killers, beginning with a woman who lives in Paris and frequents a clinic for asthma patients. Charlie figures out a way to introduce pollen into the ventilation system of the glass box in which the woman is treated, and this is where I felt like the film might lose me. Pollen? Really? Charlie wants the woman (French actor Barbara Probst) to tell him where another of her cohorts is. Amusingly enough, she starts to kick Charlie’s ass in a fight. Cinematography by Martin Ruhe is notably on level with James Bond films, especially in terms of fights, chases, and globe-trotting, cosmopolitan visual splendors.
“The Amateur” boasts a first-rate cast. Medford’s own Julianne Nicholson is the CIA’s newest chief of chiefs. Marthe Keller from the original film plays a Paris florist. Dublin-born, ex-supermodel Caitriona Balfe of “Outlander” and “Belfast” arrives as another renegade spy who joins forces with Charlie. She is glorious. Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) is fine in the lead. But Charlie is hard to warm up to, and the actor is undermined by the film’s tendency to indulge in overkill, as you will see in a killing involving a luxury hotel’s rooftop pool. The stunt department is brilliant. Fights and chases are well-staged and exciting, especially one involving a car racing on a coastal road while a gunboat fires on it from the water. Music by Academy Award-winner Volker Bertelman (“All Quiet On the Western Front”) is another plus. Fishburne, 63, and his stunt double stage the film’s best hand-to-hand battle. In a small but flashy role, Jon Bernthal menaces while drinking coffee.
The original “The Amateur” was an early example of a type of wish-fulfillment, revenge thriller we see on a much more regular basis today (the children of “Taken” alone could line a bookshelf). It is amusing when Charlie plays McGyver, using a video on his phone to help him pick a French lock. The film’s ending, featuring Michael Stuhlbarg (“Call Me By Your Name”) as the evil mastermind on the high seas off Finland, is satisfying and visually stunning. Cue the Cessna. Charlie will be back, I think.
‘The Amateur’
Rating: PG-13 for some strong violence and language.
Cast: Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne
Director: James Hawes
Writers: Ken Nolan, Gary Spinelli, Robert Littell
Running time: 123 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters April 11
Grade: B
Boston Movie News 