The Amateur review

THE AMATEUR: 

UNHINGED RAMI MALEK MAKES STANDARD ACTION THRILLER A GOOD ENOUGH TIME! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Rami Malek in The Amateur

 

            Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody, No Time to Die, Oppenheimer) goes from Queen to Amateur in…well, The Amateur, the new spy action film from James Hawes (Doctor Who, Enid, One Life) based on the book of the same name by Robert Littell. I’ve never read the book and didn’t even know it was based on a novel until I saw the movie so, I will once again be judging this film on its own merits. 

            I was looking forward to this movie when I saw the trailer, a spy thriller where Rami Malek goes after a bunch of criminals that killed his wife, sign me the hell up! As I expected yes, Raimi Malek is excellent and easily the best part of the movie…the film itself though? It’s… okay. 

            The film follows Charlie (Malek), a CIA cryptographer who after his wife is killed in London during a terrorist attack, blackmails the agency to train him as a field operative upon discovering his bosses won’t act due to conflicting internal priorities. Charlie embarks on a one-man mission to hunt down his wife’s killers by any means necessary. 

            The film also stars Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix 1-3, Ant-Man and the Wasp, John Wick franchise) as Hendo, Rachel Brosnahan (Patriots Day, The Courier, Superman (2025)) as Charlie’s wife Sarah, Caitríona Mary Balfe (Super 8, Money Monster, Ford v. Ferrari) as Inquiline Davies, Michael Stuhlbarg (Hugo, The Shape of Water, The Post) as Sean Schiller, Holt McCallany (Fight Club, Three Kings, Nightmare Alley) as CIA Deputy Director Alex Moore, Julianne Nicholson (August: Osage County, Masters of Sex, I, Tonya) as CIA Director Samantha O’Brien, Danny Sapani (The Crown, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Black Panther) as Caleb Horowitz, and Jon Bernthal (The Accountant 1 and 2, Baby Driver, The Punisher) as Jackson O’Brien AKA The Bear. 

            Overall, The Amateur is a very standard spy/espionage thriller that’s trying to replicate the formula of movies like Enemy of the State or the original Bourne films to the point where it kind of has that Paul Greengrass look to the production but lacks a lot of the intrigue and emotional investment to truly stick the landing. However, as mentioned before, Rami Malek’s unhinged performance makes the movie work well enough. 

            I thought Malek was great in the film and totally bought him as a cryptographer who has never killed someone before in his life but is forced to do so after his wife gets murdered and his superiors refuse to act. Much like when he was cast as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, this is perfect casting for Malek as a tech guy on a revenge quest and while I would have preferred seeing more of him and his wife together before she’s killed to be more emotionally attached, he sells the dramatic aspect of the situation very well. 

            With the exception of Laurence Fishburne as the man who trains Malek, the supporting characters either aren’t that memorable or not given enough time to be properly developed. The movie is based on a book and I’m certain many of the supporting characters were better integrated into the book, but in the movie they just seem like an afterthought and were thrown in because they were characters from the book. 

            The action scenes are well choreographed and exciting though nothing groundbreaking, but the film is an unfortunate victim of showing a lot of the best sequences in the trailer. Specifically, the one involving the pool suspended across two buildings, would have been a lot more effective had it been a surprise during the movie. 

            While the film’s premise is great and has a lot of potential, the plot is very formulaic and trying to hit those beats we’ve already seen in other movies of the genre. The movie seems heavily inspired by Enemy of the State and the Jason Bourne films, but instead of doing its own unique take on their tropes and storylines, it just recycles them like here’s this movie’s version of this scene, here’s this movie’s version of that scene, or here’s this movie’s version of this character, hardly anything about the plot stands out and ultimately becomes a competent but mostly forgettable imitation of better films. 

            If Rami Malek wasn’t in this movie, I’d probably be much harsher for its lack of originality, but since he is in it and is spectacular, The Amateur is a passable albeit formulaic action thriller with solid acting, decent action scenes, and just enough emotional weight to keep you invested in Malek’s character. It isn’t a cinematic game-changer or anything like that, but it certainly isn’t “Amateurish” either.