The Amateur: Movie Review

Cast: Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe
Director: James Hawes

A more muted revenge-driven thriller than perhaps its explosive trailer promised, The Amateur sees Mr Robot star Rami Malek showcasing his trademark nervous energy and outsider charm as Charles Heller, a CIA cryptographer whose wife is killed in a terrorist attack.

Despite his tracking down of those responsible, he is told by the powers that be within the CIA that it'll be dealt with. However, when he discovers that's anything but the case, and being wildly unqualified to do so, he sets out to exact vengeance on those who've wronged him.

It's an interesting premise for The Amateur - one that promises an avenging angel able to appear hidden in plain sight because of his own anonymity. 

But director James Hawes' film is more concerned with offering middling thrills than full-on revenge edges that would have spiked moviegoers' interests in the 1980s. It's a shame because there are frustrating hints of what could have been in this film.

A scene where Heller uses a lockpick video on YouTube to crack open a door in an apartment is rich with humour, as he scrabbles to go unnoticed and the video tells viewers to like and subscribe.

The movie could have used a few more of these moments throughout, rather than a more workmanlike script that hits the right notes, but never seems to have the joy of having done so. 

Malek is watchable though - his Heller has real potential for a franchise character, a kind of antithesis to the power dynamics of the likes of Jason Bourne, but unfortunately the script never quite cooks up enough of the ambiguity of the relationships between Heller, the trainer forced upon him (Laurence Fishburne) and the spy who Bro-loved him played by Jon Bernthal.

What transpires in The Amateur is a nice story of the unexpected underdog having their day, but without the frisson of tension and suspense, you're never anything less than 100% sure he'll make it through. 

A bit more edge could have made this unmissable - as it is, well, it's just slightly Amateur-ish.