Monday, April 07, 2025
The Amateur
Move over Bryan Mills, Charlie Heller is ready to step up with his own particular special skills set when his wife Sarah is taken from him. Nerdy introverted puzzle solver Charlie (Rami Malek) is a meek & mild office techie working in the CIA’s Decryption Analysis Department. Little did he know, when he kissed his wife goodbye that morning before going to work, she would be taken hostage by terrorists in London & murdered. Distraught & grieving for his wife, he urges his superiors for justice, but they seem to be dragging their feet due to internal priorities. Charlie resorts to blackmail to get some training & assistance needed before he goes out on a one-man mission for revenge. He wants to look his wife’s killers in the eyes before he executes them, however he doesn’t have that killer instinct for face-to-face termination. Will Charlie succeed? Will he develop a killer instinct? Or will he die trying? Can anyone stop him? After his first victim, everyone is on high alert as Charlie stalks his next victims across Europe. It’s an intense spy thriller as this amateur hitman must deal with all of these professionals. Malek is extraordinary as that ordinary guy trying to outplay the experts. Laurence Fishburne plays Charlie’s mentor, Robert Henderson, who gives Charlie training but doesn’t believe Charlie has the mentality to carry it off.
Alien gives it 3 “deadman’s switch” stars out of 4.
