The Amateur | Film Review

 

After tragically losing his wife in a terror attack, CIA decoder Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) uses everything at his disposal to find the people responsible.

This film wasn't particularly high on my 'to-watch' list. The plot seemed quite generic, and other than the actors involved, I didn't have high hopes.

I actually liked this more than I thought I would, especially at the beginning.

For a start, the filmmakers did a great job of creating a full character and a full relationship really early on in the film with not much to go on. We get to know Charlie really quickly, we get to know his relationship with his wife (played by Rachel Brosnahan), and by the time we lose her, we actually care because it feels like we know them.

I wish we saw more of them together.

But while Charlie is a great character to follow, he's the only one. All of the other actors in the film are used sparingly, where they could have brought so much to the story. What's the point of casting Laurence Fishburne or Jon Bernthal and then not really using them??

None of the characters actually feel necessary, let alone entertaining. 

This is a film that moves really quickly, which is good for the pacing, but also becomes its downfall because when it moves so fast, it leaves the audience behind and starts to unravel. It's so easy to get lost.

And the more you get lost, the less interest you have in the outcome. To the point where you don't really know why you're still watching.

There were some great sets, and some great action scenes, but that ultimately falls apart when the story does.

Overall the main downfalls of this film are in equal parts the under-use of supporting characters and the tight story becoming looser and looser until it completely unravels. There was a lot of good in the bones of the story, particularly with the cast, but unfortunately it didn't amount to anything.

5/10