Review of The American (2010) by Christopher T — 25 May 2011

The American takes place in the picturesque town of Castel del Monte, which is appropriate enough because the town itself serves as a fitting analogy for this film: quaint, attractive and sparsely populated, though a purveying silence bordering on boredom, and definitely not the place for someone who craves excitement.

The film's images (and dialogue) reflects director Anton Corbijn's history as a photographer. Remember the front cover to U2's The Joshua Tree? You can thank Anton for that. George Clooney plays Jack, an aging contract killer trying to find some degree of...um... something, while doing... stuff. I've seen a lot of films about contract killers (hitmen, cleaners, button men - whatever you wanna call 'em), and for the most part have enjoyed their depictions of the bent men and women who staff the profession, what drives them to do what they do, and what effects the profession has on their long-term mental state. The depiction of Clooney's Jack is one of an empty, lonely and disconnected man who yearns for a romance to bring balance to the chaos that his days have seen, though lacks the essential trust to bring such a situation into fruition. He also bears a heavy cross for the pain and suffering he'd inflicted in his deadly career. By the film's end, we see the beginnings of change that may redeem his soul, but ultimately cost him his life.

I don't have any problems with these themes, but the problem for me is that this film is all internal, and suffers tremendously when it comes to its external plot. All films must balance the internal with the external, and the external plot here is really inadequate and basically involves Jack building a custom gun (which ends up being identical to an M14 with collapsable stock and standard Hollywood silencer that turns gunshots into bunny farts), all for a mysterious woman who wants it to... kill? Maybe. It's never really explained, and by the time the film plunges into its typical Hollywood-esque double-cross climax, there's positively zero motivation for any of the characters besides Jack.

So to sum up, the internal storyline is Jack's haunted conscience and need for love (symbolized by the Priest and Hooker characters), but the external storyline is "build me a gun for no reason". Oh and apparently with Book of Eli, Jonah Hex and now this, 2010 was the year of the Hooker With A Heart of Gold - I'm all for empowering female roles (and a prostitute could be argued as being a symbol of female power), but there's much more interesting ways to portray the films romantic interest (and hookers for that matter - I want to see a film where a guy gets together with a prostitute expecting the "hooker with a heart of gold" but ends up with a petty, manipulative and totally evil bitch - that'd be a nice change of pace!).

But the main offence this film commits is how boring most of it is. It really lingers on long periods where dialogue is at an absolute minimum and not much is relayed to the audience. I think this film had a lot of potential, but squandered it in an attempt to create a navel-gazing Eurodrama. Clooney does what he can with the material, but this is George freakin' Clooney - the man oozes charm, so not getting any of it - even if it's a nervous energy to cover for his shyness and untrusting nature - really is a disappointment. The rest of the performances range from serviceable to flat, especially with Jack's unremarkable, worrisome "boss".

Not a terrible film, but definitely not a film I'll want to watch again, and I think that speaks louder than anything else I can say about it.