‘The Amateur’ Review
Stars: Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne, Caitríona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, Adrian Martinez, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Danny Sapani, Barbara Probst, Marc Rismann, Joseph Millson | Written by Ken Nolan, Gary Spinelli, Robert Littell | Directed by James Hawes
Rami Malek stars as a tech genius CIA agent gone rogue in The Amateur, a ridiculous, but nonetheless entertaining thriller that could easily have been titled Revenge of the Nerd. As such, it has its fair share of good moments, but it’s also not without its flaws.
Malek plays Charlie Heller, a vaguely on the spectrum CIA surveillance expert, whose life is brutally upended when his beloved wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) is taken hostage and murdered by terrorists while on a business trip in London. When his CIA bosses (Holt McCallany and Danny Sapani) refuse to go after the people responsible, a vengeful Charlie blackmails them into giving him special ops training and decides to violently dispatch the terrorists himself.
Under the speedy tutelage of Colonel “Hendo” Henderson (Laurence Fishburne), Charlie turns out to be terrible at handling weaponry, but discovers a gift for gadgetry and explosives, both of which are put to good use in his subsequent globe-trotting revenge-fuelled murder quest. Along the way, he has to stay one step ahead of CIA goons sent to silence him, and he receives help from his own covert informant, known as Inquiline (Caitríona Balfe) as well as a sympathetic colleague (Jon Bernthal).
The Amateur is directed by James Hawes, who previously made the Nicholas Winton drama One Life, and honed his craft on episodes of various prestige TV shows, such as Slow Horses and Doctor Who. Accordingly, his direction is engagingly pacey throughout and the inventive set-pieces (an attempt at death-by-pollen here, an exploding glass swimming pool there) are effectively staged.
The film’s best moments are when the script leans into Charlie’s amateurishness, as the title implies – one particular highlight has him picking a lock with the aid of an instructional YouTube video, which ends with a cheerful “Don’t forget to like and subscribe!” as he gains entry. However, it feels like the script probably underwent a rewrite or two, because there’s not nearly enough of this sort of thing and he’s pretty damn professional the rest of the time.
The sheer ridiculousness of The Amateur is undoubtedly part of the fun, but there’s a murky morality at play that doesn’t quite work. Crucially, the film fails to get to grips with the key theme of violent revenge movies, namely the effect of all that violence and death on the protagonist, and the way the story ultimately plays out is almost laughable in that regard.
There are other problems too, not least in the casting of Malek himself. He has a creepy, weird look and an awkward demeanour, which might make him perfect for the basement-dwelling nerdiness of Charlie, but those qualities also make him difficult to root for, and Malek struggles whenever something resembling human emotion is called for.
In addition, though there are a handful of terrific supporting performances here (McCallany, Fishburne and Balfe are all stand-outs), the film also criminally wastes the likes of Jon Bernthal (who surely had several scenes cut, given the charismatic figure he’s playing) and Rachel Brosnahan, who’s in shockingly few scenes considering she’s second billed in the opening credits.
In short, The Amateur is a pacey, well crafted revenge thriller that’s a cut above the usual straight-to-streaming action stuff that’s churned out on a regular basis. It might be preposterous, but in this case, the preposterousness is very much part of the fun. An enjoyably silly ride.
*** 3/5
The Amateur is in UK cinemas now.
