Review of American Assassin (2017) by Popcorn55 — 11 Feb 2018

The actor playing Rapp isn't physically imposing enough to be credible in the role. Seems like a kid, no threat, doesn't seem appropriate at all. No voltage. The idea that he somehow works out for 6 months and then starts infiltrating terrorist cells in Libya, knows the Koran and speaks Arabic, etc.

-- just doesn't fly at all, right off the bat. It's the kind of thing an inexperienced screenwriter writes, and it seems OK to read it in the script, but it doesn't actually play well to the audience.

The intuition to detect this kind of problem and avoid it is a prime distinguishing characteristic of better screenwriters and directors. The whole movie somehow fails to create the suspense and credibility that Bond, Bourne, etc.

do so well. It's like an imitation spy movie. I actually fast-forwarded through several parts of the DVD, just couldn't sustain interest -- and many scenes are hard to figure, stuff happens but it's not very clear exactly what.

Lots of foreign dialogue with tiny subtitles hard to see on the TV also detract from the storytelling. Weird fail, doesn't make the grade despite a lot of effort that obviously went into it. The lousy special effects at the end - blue-tone CGI stuff - puts the nail in it.

It's that blue-tone 1997-style video-game CGI that more than anything, brands a bad movie these days.