Flashy yet formulaic, The Amateur is a rather by the numbers spy thriller. It offers pretty much what you would expect without any surprises but does it in a way that is generally satisfying and watchable. It's the sort of film where the hero/underdog overcomes all odds to make sure the bad guys get theirs, the sort of narrative that generally western audiences want.
This is a brains over brawn fantasy and Malek is perfectly cast cause we know he likely could pull this off while looking awkward and nervous the whole time. There are a number of roles that feel a bit superfluous like Bernthal's character who basically shows up for two scenes without much purpose. Then there is Fishburne in the role of sage veteran passing along his knowledge but in the end doesn't do much of anything. He gets one action sequence in the middle that feels a little tacked on and goes away when the plot doesn't need him anymore.
The main problem arises from how the plot is entirely worked around the "fridging" of Brosnahan's character, (not a spoiler - it's in the trailer) and then the film goes on to fridge another character. There may be a but of cognitive dissonance going on as the film's main moral lesson appears to be the immorality of covering up "black op" activities of the government so our hero goes on his own black-op?
But best not to think about much of any of that and just enjoy what is otherwise a fairly slick if shallow action film with some cool revenge set pieces. That pool collapsing is very cool!
The Amateur
Starring: Rami Malek, Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitríona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson
Director: James Hawes
Writers: Ken Nolan, Gary Spinelli
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