Review of American Assassin (2017) by Kris S — 13 Sep 2017

American Assassin can't avoid the revenge/spy cliches (it also brings some fresh air) but for me, a fan of this genre thoroughly enjoyed this take that brings in Vince Flynn's novel to the modern era.

The director makes good use of the locations he has to play with. Some of the effects are mediocre however that doesn't take away from the story. Although one of the more recent stories this is actually the first chronologically so the better one to adapt for screen taken into account an up to date style and fear of terrorism where as the novel featured the Lockerbie disaster.

This didn't really have an effect overall due to coming to the same result none the less. There is a lack of character development but hopefully, it builds on this as the series will expectedly continue and adapt more of the sixteen novels Vince has already created.

The director employs what appears to be only basic cinematography nothing new to the action genre (shaky cam, fast paced dolly shot, jump cuts.) This is only the beginning to Mitch Rapp's story, although being off to what seems like a shaky start we will hopefully once again see Dylan O'Brien's portrayal as the American Assassin and Michael Keaton as his mentor.