Review of American Assassin (2017) by Ethan H — 10 Jan 2018

I saw American Assassin as the movie itself, I did not read the book or any reviews before hand. I am a huge fan of both Michael Keaton and Dylan O'Brien, and I believe that both actors did very well for the poor script they had to deal with. There were a few times in the film that there were events that could of ended the story right there. One being the beginning scene, where the shooters on the beach: #1: Could have shot and killed more people because they let people run right pass them without shooting them. #2: Had an even worse aim then stormstroopers. And #3: Decided to shoot the girlfriend again after she could have clearly died from the wounds, rather than shooting the main character who was still well alive. The script had a poor choice of words and it seemed to repeat itself. For instance, one character in the room will say something and another character will say the same thing in a different way. I.E "We are screwed!" "Yeah, we are f**ked!".

Mitch seemed to have only one reason to do what he was doing, and nothing else. It would have been smart to show a bit more into his background and show what made him go from the happiest man to a tough, hardcore, i'm going to kill them all type person. They mention the death of his parents but that is blown off by Mitch saying, "I don't remember much," when he was 12 when they died. So it seemed as though the filmmakers were heavily relying on the shooting to trigger his behavior. Also, did Mitch know the CIA was spying on him, if so how? And why did it not bother him that they were?

Stan's background is similar to Mitch's in the sense that they state that he is a former Navy Seal and now trains an elite force. What is the purpose of the force? Why was it made? Etc. He seems to have a lot of out of country connections for someone with little to no background.

Aside from all of that, the movie was still fun and enjoyable to watch. The action sequences are easy to follow and enjoyable to see. The ending was great for the film too, but it makes it seem like there will be a sequel which if they follow the same things they did in this film, it will be a bust. I think that had they fixed these issues and added more to the characters and script, it would have been a four star.

My Consensus: American Assassin is a film with a poorly written script and underdeveloped characters with high class actors. It is a movie you will enjoy watching but forget about the minute the credits end.