The Amateur - Review 

Rating: 3 out of 5

RAMI Malek lends a distinct leading man quality to revenge-thriller The Amateur, an intriguing but ultimately flawed attempt to update the sort of action showpiece that might once have starred Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone.

Malek plays nerdy CIA intelligence analyst Charles Heller, whose wife (Superman’s Rachel Brosnahan) is murdered by terrorists in London.

Having recently discovered (and concealed) a series of off-the-books black ops missions by his superiors, Heller becomes frustrated by the slow pace of the subsequent response to the killing, so - suspecting another cover-up - opts to blackmail his bosses (led by Holt McCallany) into training him to exact revenge on his own terms.

Hence, Heller is placed under the watchful tutoring of Laurence Fishburne’s veteran, learning all he can as quickly as he can, before venturing into the field to catch and kill the four people responsible.

Nicholas Winton, who found deserved success with his last film, the emotional One Life, here directs with a measured efficiency that gives rise to one or two well orchestrated set pieces (including a rooftop killing in a swimming-pool-in-the-sky bridging two skyscrapers), but struggles with both the messy plotting and thinly sketched characters.

On the one hand, Winton attempts to keep things grounded in some kind of plausible reality, by having Heller found wanting when attempting to pick a lock (and having to use Google) or by hesitating when it comes to pulling the trigger; yet on the other, he dispels that amateurishness by making Heller’s schemes become increasingly elaborate and skilled.

For sure, the modern context allows room for Malek’s tech genius (surely a nod to his Mr Robot persona) to lend him a certain amount of covertness, but this compromises the believability of his action prowess - which, in itself, subverts the brawn over brain approach that made so many of Arnie’s later films (Collateral Damage) so ridiculous.

But even then, this film’s intelligence is limited, as the cover-ups don’t really go anywhere and the supposedly sophisticated villains are too easily found and outplayed. The stakes, for Heller, aren’t nearly high enough and the film lacks any real tension or edge.

Malek, himself, does lend the film its own identity by virtue of his eccentric delivery - but this, too, can come at the expense of any emotional investment as his performance struggles to tap into the depths of his grief.

A strong supporting cast is also wasted, with Fishburne going through the motions as Heller’s continually exasperated handler; Michael Stuhlbarg completely wasted as the main villain, and Jon Bernthal drifting in and out of proceedings in baffling fashion as a supposed friend and possible enemy (his character never really brings enough of either, before simply disappearing).

Indeed, the film’s best and most interesting character, Caitriona Balfe’s Inquiline (a covert ally of Heller’s), is criminally let down by the same sort of approach to plucky female helpers as bedevilled too many ‘80s male-led movies.

And that, in itself, is just plain amateurish!

Certificate: 12A

Running time: 2hrs 4mins