The American
Posted by Tyler Kirk on Saturday, April 23, 2011
The lonely life of an assassin.
It doesn't surprise me why a lot of the general audience doesn't like "The American".They say things like 'It's too boring' or 'There's barely any action' or even 'Nothing goes on in this movie'.I perfectly understand why people would say such things.There's barely any action in this movie despite a couple of shootouts, but this is NOT an action movie.Just because the main character is an assassin doesn't mean that the film will revolve around him trying to kill certain people.It's basically a drama centered on the lonely life of an assassin, so if you watch this expecting some sort of James Bourne-James Bond action movie, you will be very disappointed.I want to make that perfectly clear to those who have not seen "The American".In all honesty, I liked this movie.Even though it's mostly a quiet movie, it somehow kept me entertained.Maybe it was George Clooney's performance that saved it from being boring, I don't know for sure why I liked it, I just found it to be a very solid and well-done film.
The fact that this is centered on the LIFE of a hitman and not his targets is what makes it an interesting movie.After all, I can't think of much movies that have done it before.The assassin in this movie is played by George Clooney who, obviously, is American.He is told by his employer to hide out in Italy for one last assignment, which is to design a weapon for an unknown contact.However, he is told not to befriend anyone, but only a bad-ass like Clooney could go out and break those kind of rules.He befriends 3 people: A priest, the contact, and a hooker.He easily could've avoided the priest and hooker, but why would his employer tell him not to make any friends if Clooney HAD to meet up with the contact.If he's going to spend God knows how long in Italy by himself, what's going to stop him?
Even if it doesn't sound like an action-filled story, I personally found it to be very interesting, given that it takes the whole "hitman" genre to whole new level without adding endless shootouts and killings.As I said before, it's a very quiet movie, so the majority of it is Clooney either designing a weapon for his contact or him developing a romance for a hooker.I don't care if the movie didn't excite or entertain you, I was entertained.Maybe not excited, but the film never bored me for a single minute in it's 105 minute running time.George Clooney does his job rather well as a lone man given no other objectives ither than making a weapon.Quiet as he is, he's given some good dialog and his acting is rather impressive in and as "The American".Go into this movie with an open mind or not expecting an action film and you'll probably like it.If you don't do either, prepare to turn off your DVD player and call it a day.
Grade: B+
It doesn't surprise me why a lot of the general audience doesn't like "The American".They say things like 'It's too boring' or 'There's barely any action' or even 'Nothing goes on in this movie'.I perfectly understand why people would say such things.There's barely any action in this movie despite a couple of shootouts, but this is NOT an action movie.Just because the main character is an assassin doesn't mean that the film will revolve around him trying to kill certain people.It's basically a drama centered on the lonely life of an assassin, so if you watch this expecting some sort of James Bourne-James Bond action movie, you will be very disappointed.I want to make that perfectly clear to those who have not seen "The American".In all honesty, I liked this movie.Even though it's mostly a quiet movie, it somehow kept me entertained.Maybe it was George Clooney's performance that saved it from being boring, I don't know for sure why I liked it, I just found it to be a very solid and well-done film.
The fact that this is centered on the LIFE of a hitman and not his targets is what makes it an interesting movie.After all, I can't think of much movies that have done it before.The assassin in this movie is played by George Clooney who, obviously, is American.He is told by his employer to hide out in Italy for one last assignment, which is to design a weapon for an unknown contact.However, he is told not to befriend anyone, but only a bad-ass like Clooney could go out and break those kind of rules.He befriends 3 people: A priest, the contact, and a hooker.He easily could've avoided the priest and hooker, but why would his employer tell him not to make any friends if Clooney HAD to meet up with the contact.If he's going to spend God knows how long in Italy by himself, what's going to stop him?
Even if it doesn't sound like an action-filled story, I personally found it to be very interesting, given that it takes the whole "hitman" genre to whole new level without adding endless shootouts and killings.As I said before, it's a very quiet movie, so the majority of it is Clooney either designing a weapon for his contact or him developing a romance for a hooker.I don't care if the movie didn't excite or entertain you, I was entertained.Maybe not excited, but the film never bored me for a single minute in it's 105 minute running time.George Clooney does his job rather well as a lone man given no other objectives ither than making a weapon.Quiet as he is, he's given some good dialog and his acting is rather impressive in and as "The American".Go into this movie with an open mind or not expecting an action film and you'll probably like it.If you don't do either, prepare to turn off your DVD player and call it a day.
Grade: B+
