The Amateur Review: It’s A “Fine” Spy Thriller

The Amateur is just fine. At times, it is a spy thriller that works hard to turn the audience’s expectations upside down; at others, it is slow & ridiculous.

The Amateur tries to take the spy thriller genre and switch things up a little bit. This is something it succeeds at, however, the film itself has other issues that are hard to look past. Still, overall, this is, simply put, a fine movie.

Rami Malek stars as Charlie Heller, a decoder for the CIA whose world gets turned upside down one day when his wife is killed in a terrorist attack. Determined to enact revenge upon her killers, he blackmails his bosses to let him into the field. After some enjoyable training from Laurence Fishburne’s Agent Henderson, he is forced to hunt down the killers while looking over his shoulder for the CIA.

Rachel Brosnahan plays his wife, Sarah, which was a little bit surprising to me. Don’t get me wrong, I adore her, which is why it was strange to see her cast in such a small role. That said, her chemistry with Malek is undeniable in the little time they have together.

Jon Bernthal is also in the film as an in-the-field CIA Agent that Charlie and the other decoders clearly look up to. Frustratingly, Bernthal barely appears in The Amateur. The character itself has absolutely no point and brings nothing to the story. It almost feels like he had a larger role at one point that was cut down because there was no need for him.

Malek is an incredible actor, there is no doubt about that, and he does what he can with this ridiculous script. His character is not a killer, not really, and so he needs to think outside the box if he wants to succeed in killing his wife’s killers. These moments were some of my favorite parts of the film.

That said, the time between his confrontations with the four people who caused his wife’s death was far too long. The Amateur clocks in at just over two hours, but it could have (and should have) easily been a ninety-minute long, fast-paced thriller. Every time it felt like we started to get going, the action would slow to a halt and we would be back with a mourning Charlie.

While on the run, Charlie briefly joins forces with Caitriona Balfe’s character. Their collaboration makes sense because of the breadcrumbs that were laid out earlier, and they form a bond quickly because of their shared experiences. Both are grieving the loves of their lives, which offers some deep conversations that bring heart to the film, but at the same time, can feel out of place.

Laurence Fishburne and Rami Malek have some truly great moments together. I rather enjoyed their relationship, but for a movie that is mostly slow-paced, their bonding moments seemed to be rather rushed, causing confusion when it becomes clear just how much Charlie cares about Henderson – going so far as to call him a friend.

I can appreciate that The Amateur does its best to what we know about spy thrillers on its head. Malek’s character is not good at shooting or hand-to-hand combat, so he must learn to excel in other ways. This part of the movie worked for me, but the time in between each of these moments was often a slog, making me feel like I was on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.

NEXT: Drop Review: An Intense Thriller From Start To Finish

About The Amateur

Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) is a brilliant, but deeply introverted decoder for the CIA working out of a basement office at headquarters in Langley whose life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack.

When his supervisors refuse to take action, he takes matters into his own hands, embarking on a dangerous trek across the globe to track down those responsible, his intelligence serving as the ultimate weapon for eluding his pursuers and achieving his revenge.

The Amateur comes to theaters on April 11.

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The Amateur is just fine. At times, it is a spy thriller that works hard to turn the audience's expectations upside down; at others, it is slow & ridiculous.

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