Sept. 9, 2010
BECK AT THE MOVIES: 'The American'
More 'Art House Drama' Than Action Thriller
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Richmond, VA (HNN) - Anton Corbijn's "The American" is a slow, plodding "thriller" that seeks to be as good as other similar (and better) films, such as, as others have already pointed out, Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai." However, the filmmakers seem to have forgotten that it takes more than a brooding assassin to engage the audience for the full runtime of the film. Moreover, if that character isn't involved in an interesting narrative, they'll have even less reason to care.
"The American" starts off with Jack (or Edward, his true name is never revealed) (George Clooney), as he and a friend are trudging through the snow around a cabin. Suddenly, a pair of hitmen try to kill Jack, but he is able to escape after killing not only them, but also the friend he was with. Right away, we know there is something very unusual about this Jack fellow. He makes his way to Rome where he gets in contact with a man named Pavel (Johan Leysen), who is his handler/boss/job-finder, we're never really sure.
Jack agrees to complete one more job before finally leaving his work behind. He meets up with Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) and, in a very succinct conversation, discusses exactly what she needs for the job. His mission is to build for her a gun, but not just any gun, a compact rifle with good range and a dampener. While this professional relationship is going on with Mathilde, Jack has another more personal relationship with a prostitute, Clara (Violante Placido), who he becomes very close with. However easy this last job might seem, he is fully aware that someone could show up at any time to try and kill him, so he is always on guard, even when he's with the woman he cares about.
It would be interesting to take a poll to see how many people were fooled into thinking they were going to get an actual thriller before walking into this film (another case of trailer misrepresentation). This would be much more accurately described as a heavy-handed drama or an art house film, which is not to put down either of those genres, but just to let you know what you're getting into with "The American."
I don't mean to say it's all bad either. It starts off well with a scene that seems to promise a thrilling story of an assassin on the run from mysterious would-be killers. It does maintain that hint of mystery as we don't know who Jack is, what his job really is, or who he officially works for, but it becomes very hard to care with the overly-simplistic story.
It feels like we've seen all this before: the hitman on his last job who wants to quit and can only find love with a prostitute, but there's something here that just feels so superficial about the whole thing probably stemming back from the issues with the story itself. It never becomes engaging because it's as if we can see how the whole film is destined to play out from very early on.
The other interesting scenes in the film are when Jack is assembling the specially ordered rifle for Mathilde. He is an expert craftsman who is very good with machines despite his claims to the contrary. One of these scenes even involves him making the dampener (not a silencer because that was apparently not possible) out of metal tubes from a car repair shop. Sure these aren't particularly great scenes, but in a film like this, you take what you can get.
The whole film basically hinges on Clooney's performance, but it is hard to recall a film where his performance has been blander. This is another reason why it becomes hard to get engaged in the film's story as the main character remains cold, remote, and disconnected. It's sad to say, but Clooney had more personality when he played Batman than he does here.
The screenplay was written by Rowan Joffe, whose previously co-wrote "28 Weeks Later." That film was a pretty good thriller, which makes it a bit surprising that he couldn't do much with material like this. Perhaps it was the confines of the book this film was based on, "A Very Private Gentleman" by Martin Booth. But if this was so, it should have been evident that a little creative tampering was needed, because what the film ultimately ends up becoming is 90 forgettable minutes. 2/4 stars.
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BECK AT THE MOVIES: 'The American'
More 'Art House Drama' Than Action Thriller
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Richmond, VA (HNN) - Anton Corbijn's "The American" is a slow, plodding "thriller" that seeks to be as good as other similar (and better) films, such as, as others have already pointed out, Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai." However, the filmmakers seem to have forgotten that it takes more than a brooding assassin to engage the audience for the full runtime of the film. Moreover, if that character isn't involved in an interesting narrative, they'll have even less reason to care.
"The American" starts off with Jack (or Edward, his true name is never revealed) (George Clooney), as he and a friend are trudging through the snow around a cabin. Suddenly, a pair of hitmen try to kill Jack, but he is able to escape after killing not only them, but also the friend he was with. Right away, we know there is something very unusual about this Jack fellow. He makes his way to Rome where he gets in contact with a man named Pavel (Johan Leysen), who is his handler/boss/job-finder, we're never really sure.
Jack agrees to complete one more job before finally leaving his work behind. He meets up with Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) and, in a very succinct conversation, discusses exactly what she needs for the job. His mission is to build for her a gun, but not just any gun, a compact rifle with good range and a dampener. While this professional relationship is going on with Mathilde, Jack has another more personal relationship with a prostitute, Clara (Violante Placido), who he becomes very close with. However easy this last job might seem, he is fully aware that someone could show up at any time to try and kill him, so he is always on guard, even when he's with the woman he cares about.
It would be interesting to take a poll to see how many people were fooled into thinking they were going to get an actual thriller before walking into this film (another case of trailer misrepresentation). This would be much more accurately described as a heavy-handed drama or an art house film, which is not to put down either of those genres, but just to let you know what you're getting into with "The American."
I don't mean to say it's all bad either. It starts off well with a scene that seems to promise a thrilling story of an assassin on the run from mysterious would-be killers. It does maintain that hint of mystery as we don't know who Jack is, what his job really is, or who he officially works for, but it becomes very hard to care with the overly-simplistic story.
It feels like we've seen all this before: the hitman on his last job who wants to quit and can only find love with a prostitute, but there's something here that just feels so superficial about the whole thing probably stemming back from the issues with the story itself. It never becomes engaging because it's as if we can see how the whole film is destined to play out from very early on.
The other interesting scenes in the film are when Jack is assembling the specially ordered rifle for Mathilde. He is an expert craftsman who is very good with machines despite his claims to the contrary. One of these scenes even involves him making the dampener (not a silencer because that was apparently not possible) out of metal tubes from a car repair shop. Sure these aren't particularly great scenes, but in a film like this, you take what you can get.
The whole film basically hinges on Clooney's performance, but it is hard to recall a film where his performance has been blander. This is another reason why it becomes hard to get engaged in the film's story as the main character remains cold, remote, and disconnected. It's sad to say, but Clooney had more personality when he played Batman than he does here.
The screenplay was written by Rowan Joffe, whose previously co-wrote "28 Weeks Later." That film was a pretty good thriller, which makes it a bit surprising that he couldn't do much with material like this. Perhaps it was the confines of the book this film was based on, "A Very Private Gentleman" by Martin Booth. But if this was so, it should have been evident that a little creative tampering was needed, because what the film ultimately ends up becoming is 90 forgettable minutes. 2/4 stars.
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