Review of American Assassin (2017) by Chris O — 15 Dec 2017

Messy, boring, unoriginal, and just like a boring video game.

AMERICAN ASSASSIN follows the rise of Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) a CIA black ops recruit under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton). The pair is then enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on both military and civilian targets. Together the three discover a pattern in the violence leading them to a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) to stop a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch) intent on starting a World War in the Middle East.

Honestly, I like Dylan O'Brien. I think he's a really strong actor and he's shined when carrying his own movie franchise. I was actually excited to see him branch out into something a little bit different. However, it doesn't help that this film was one of the most generic, boring action films that I've seen this year. Not only that, but it was too predictable. It was so predictable to the point where I didn't even have to think. It was so obvious that I couldn't help but map out every little beat to a tee.

One thing I did like about this film was the beginning scene. I think it was heartfelt, well shot, and also very terrifying. This scene was intensely scary and real and I give the filmmakers props for that one. It stood out to me like a needle in a haystack and it certainly started the film out strong. If the rest of the film followed the tone that this scene is, I think this would've been a pretty powerful film.

Take any video game from the shooter genre. What'd you think of, "Call of Duty", "Battlefield", "Splinter Cell"? With each of those beloved franchises, the feel and the beats of the storyline often don't feel to different. That's exactly what this movie was. However, it was like a video game you couldn't interact with so it was even more boring and uninteresting. There was just nothing about this film that was there to reel you in or give you a reason to care.

I feel like a film like this could potentially just be simple summer fun. I think you can find enjoyment in this film if you put aside how dumb it really is. I think there's some semi entertaining action scenes and honestly, I wanted to like it. It was just way weaker than I expected it to be and the movie never gave me a reason to care.

In the end, this movie was less than adequate, if not just bad. I hate saying that but in my opinion, it's just not worth a watch.