Review of American Assassin (2017) by Kevin G — 20 Oct 2017

"Conventional and by-the-numbers, the only thing "American Assassin" kills is two hours of your life".

Movie Review: American Assassin.

Date Viewed: September 15 2017.

Directed By Michael Cuesta (Kill the Messenger, 12 and Holding, Tell-Tale and Roadie).

Screenplay By Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, Based on the novel by Vince Flynn.

Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar, Taylor Kitsch, David Suchet, Navid Negahban, Scott Adkins and Charlotte Vega.

If you've seen this type of hard-edged, espionage thriller before, there's a pretty good chance that you've seen them all. "American Assassin" wants to be pure mature escapism but it's not in the same class as the "Bourne", "James Bond" and "Jack Ryan" franchises. Despite a pretty good performance from Michael Keaton, this is a film that plungers it's viewers with it's gruesome violence and brooding tone. "American Assassin" has such a generic title I wasn't expecting much out of it and my critic senses were right.

Fresh from "The Maze Runner" films and Peter Berg's "Deepwater Horizon", Dylan O'Brien stars as Mitch Rapp, a man who mostly has revenge on his mind. 18 months ago, his life seemed bright, Mitch and his girlfriend, Katrina (Charlotte Vega) were on vacation, he proposed to her and she accepted but moments later, an Islamic jihadist cell lands on the beach and they begin shooting at innocent bystanders. Mitch scrambled to find his girlfriend but she got shot by the terrorist cell and his life changed forever that day. Now consumed with vengeance, Mitch uses an internet message board to track down the terrorists who killed his girlfriend and wipe out the cell once and for all. When he does infiltrate the group and comes face-to-face with the leader of the terrorist cell, an explosion rocks the terrorist compound and they get ambushed by U.S. forces but that doesn't stop Mitch from stabbing the terrorist leader multiple times. He gets dragged out by U.S. forces and Mitch goes under 30 days of debriefing and interrogation before being offered a chance by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to work for the agency.

After Mitch gets recruited by the CIA, he joins a black operations unit codenamed Orion and he and along with other potential recruits will be trained under former U.S. Navy SEAL and Cold War veteran, Stan Hurley (Keaton). Just as Hurley trains his fellow recruits in asymmetrical warfare, the CIA discovers through intelligence channels that weapons grade nuclear material has gone missing and this nuclear material is heading towards Iranian hardliners. Why? Because they are upset with their government's nuclear deal with the Obama administration. Gee, global and political vendettas, nuclear material, weapons of mass destruction and intent on starting a World War in the Middle East? Oh! Warmonger political elites like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Obama, Bush 41, Bush 43 and George Soros will just love this film.

Meanwhile in Poland, the sale of the nuclear material is going on but it gets intercepted by a third party known as "Ghost" (Taylor Kitsch). "Ghost" kills the sellers and he disappears into the crowd. Back in Virginia, Hurley sees the news reports on TV and he immediately recognizes the perpetrator, it's his former apprentice. Hurley taught him every spy trick and technique in the book but years ago, he went rogue and he hasn't been seen since.

Not only does "American Assassin" feel overly familiar, it also features the very old and very tired movie chestnut, the "young recruit hot shot who thinks and says that he's ready but his trainer/handler doesn't think so" cliche. I'm sorry but this cliche has to go. Dylan O'Brien is a young and charismatic performer but just like his character, he and Mitch Rapp have so much to learn. O'Brien doesn't bring enough sass and energy to his role, Sanaa Lathan feels completely wasted here as the CIA Deputy Director, newcomer Shiva Negar doesn't bring much to the safe house as Annika, a beautiful but very lethal agent who works with Mitch and Hurley to stop the rogue operative and Taylor Kitsch doesn't make for a convincing antagonist.

Director Michael Cuesta (Kill the Messenger, 12 and Holding, Tell-Tale and Roadie) crafts some effective action sequences but the tone is so dark and humorless, it's hard to get invested with the story. Based on the novel by Vince Flynn, "American Assassin" might appeal to action junkies and Tom Clancy buffs but the screenplay by Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz is so conventional and by-the-numbers, it completely misses the target.

The only thing "American Assassin" kills is two hours of your life.