The Amateur Movie Review

Charlie Heller, played by Rami Malek, is a cryptographer for the CIA. He’s basically their tech nerd, and he’s very good at his job. ​

He builds code used in the agency until suddenly, it’s being used on him—a little backstory before I jump into that. Charlie is married to Sarah, and loves his wife very much. We don’t know much about her except that the feeling is mutual. They’re a cute couple. Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) goes on a trip for work. Something that will haunt him for the rest of his days is that he turned down the opportunity to join her when she begged him to. As she always does.

Why will he regret not going? Because CIA Deputy Director Alex Moore (Holt McCallany) pulls Charlie into his office to inform him that Sarah has been killed when she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A group of terrorists wasn’t after her, but she got in the way during their attack, and she was shot. Charlie practically goes blind with sadness and rage. I would be, too, if I were Malek and in a spy thriller that uses the “Dead Wife” storyline… again. They even have a throw-up scene when the poor man gets all upset. Can we move on from these? Okay. I just had to get that out of my system. Moving on…

Charlie gives the higher-ups time to try and find her killers, but they’re not moving fast enough for his liking. Having the knowledge he does, he starts doing his own digging. He then goes to Moore and asks to be trained to kill. He wants to take the monsters who murdered Sarah down himself. His trainer is Henderson (Laurence Fishburne), who should have had more screen time. Thus begins the best parts of the film. His training until about the last third of the film is a lot of fun as far as thrillers go. I’ll steer clear from giving away a few plot points that you’d hate to know going in. Henderson is a good guy and can see that Charlie is no killer, even though he continually claims to be, because of what they did. He can be that man.

What I don’t like about an intense thriller is when they go overboard, trying to make a character someone they’re not. Director James Hawes (One Life) makes his Charlie relatable, never once making him suddenly capable of a bloodbath or of leaping from one boat to another. He almost gets himself killed underestimating an opponent.

We move at a measured pace, which means you’re not getting ridiculous superhero fight scenes, but instead, a man on a mission to rid his mind and body of the pain he may not be able to live with much longer. He chases these killers one by one, getting himself closer to them than he wanted to ever be. Aim and fire would have been easier, but it’s where the action is if you like it in your spy movies. It’s because of a few of these scenes that the movie begins to struggle with time. It gets too long, and you tire a bit. After seeing the trailer, I did expect more. And you’ve seen the best scene from the film before you walked into the theater. The pool scene plays well on the big screen, but it would have been better had I not known it was going to happen.

The Amateur is worth seeing for Malek himself. He can always pull you into his story with just a look. You will like this movie if this is your genre and if you like him. There isn’t much new in this particular spy thriller outside of the men unfolding it for you. You see almost everything coming, but Malek, Fishburne, and Hawes are good at what they do. They’re you’re reason for giving “The Amateur” a look.