While cold-hearted government agents hunting down evil figures has been done over and over again, the geek stepping out from behind his computer and taking matters into his own hands is a less oversaturated field.
★★★☆☆
Rami Malek’s career has reached quite an interesting point. Despite reminding us of his talent when he made a cameo in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and having also impressed in Papillon, Short Term 12 and No Time To Die, his controversy-sparking Oscar-winning work in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) has remained at the forefront of people’s minds. A return to a leading role, accompanied by names as big as Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan and Jon Bernthal, presents Malek with a front-and-centre opportunity to deliver the goods.
Charlie Heller, played by Malek, is a CIA decoder who is deeply enamoured with his wife Sarah (Brosnahan). When she is taken hostage and later killed at a conference in London, Charlie spirals and is then faced with the uncomfortable reality that, if anything is to be done, he’ll have to be the one to do it.
Henderson (Fishburne) is one of many stereotypical CIA agents tasked with hunting him down as the now rogue genius goes in search of the people that killed his wife. Using what he does have in his arsenal to make up for the fieldwork skills he lacks, can he remain two steps ahead of Langley’s finest until the last of the killers are themselves dead?
At the crux of James Hawes’ The Amateur is a premise that we have seen repeated countless times throughout cinema history. A government agent going into the field to overpower and ultimately kill a villain or a group of them is nothing new. If you take out the official employment of our supposed hero, even more films fall into this category.
For The Amateur to be a film worth seeing, then, that concept has to be challenged or furthered. Malek goes some way to doing this. He cuts a very humane and emotional figure and strays away from the idea of a cold-hearted, suave individual who can’t be ruffled, instead constantly battling with the question of what is right—a welcome rarity in the genre. That emotion of an everyday person is conveyed particularly well by the actor from the off, with his wife’s murder. That said, slightly more depth to Sarah’s character before her death might have packed a heftier punch. As it stands, the audience is reliant on seeing her through Charlie’s loving eyes instead of forming their own image of her.
Where the film fails in differentiating itself is the depiction of this highly intelligent figure. We may see him as an unusual killer, but when it comes to his computer hacking and technological abilities, he remains exactly as one would expect. Despite being easily spooked in the face of violence he somehow stays grounded in between his more violent tasks, and this calm and calculated depiction seeps to the age-old stereotypes.
Talking of being grounded, the locations of the film help to keep it rooted in reality, an achievement which is particularly difficult when you consider the extremities that The Amateur reaches. Journeys in and around the streets of cities such as Marseille and Istanbul, particularly the latter, display Charlie as an everyday individual, even when his actions suggest otherwise. This attention to detail is indicative of a well-thought-out project deserving of praise.
The battle between brain and brawn sees the former come out on top here, Henderson’s comment that “maybe y’all misjudged this individual” serving as a clear representation of who Charlie is to these people around him. On the topic of those around him and whilst Malek’s performance is worth the watch alone, Holt McCallany’s condescending tone has major shades of his Mindhunter character to a grating extent, leaving our lead actor as the certified standout.
The Verdict
Rami Malek makes for a great nerdy decoder-turned-hacker and reminds us all of his talent but not even he can lead The Amateur to a particularly memorable status. Regularly-seen ideas and cliches see this film remain as just another espionage manhunt.
Words by Jamie Rooke
The Amateur released in UK cinemas on April 11.
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