Reel Review: The Amateur Is Enjoyable but Lacks Individuality

Every spy movie is enjoyable, and that includes this movie. This wasn’t the best watch of the year and would probably be more enjoyable while watching from home on streaming, but overall, this movie lacked a whole lot of tension and felt like it was just struggling to get by. 

For maybe one act of the film it was interesting and kept me on my toes, but the rest of the time I just wondered how much longer the movie had until it was over because it felt like it wasn’t going to address everything that it needed to and the most interesting parts of the story disappeared as the movie continued. It felt very predictable except for maybe once or twice.

Rami Malek, who played Charlie Heller, was great and I don’t think he had a hand in this movie not being super enjoyable, but it also seemed like he lacked tension with his wife in the movie that when she does get killed, which sets the movie in motion, it’s hard to believe that Malek has any personal stake in it. It is a cool concept, but it lacked depth and emotion in the writing. 

I was a little upset that we didn’t get to see much of Jon Bernthal in the movie, or as much as I would have liked. It felt like they went into such detail of a lot of other parts of the film, but when it came to Jon Bernthal and Rami Malek’s characters relationship in the film; it felt forgotten about and it seemed like it could have been a cool relationship to get more information or a story from, but it felt rushed and overall just breezed past any story between them. 

Rachel Brosnahan was incredible in the movie. She wasn’t in it for long, but I did think she did a good job for the time she was in it. I only wish we got to see her a little more and see more of the dynamic between her and Rami Malek’s character, because this part of the world-building also felt very rushed. It was almost as if we were rushing to get to the hotel incident that kills Brosnahan. 

Laurence Fishburne was my favorite part of the entire movie. His acting was incredible, and he was perfect for the role. His role in the movie also made the film more interesting as well. He helped guide the film and my interest in it. He was the only thing that added tension to the film, but before the end you could tell he was rooting for Charlie, which took away from the tension of the chase between the two of them.

The cinematography was great, and it was cool being able to see different parts of the world, but it also wasn’t the most engaging when I heard that Charlie’s informant was the widow of a murdered KGB officer. It just lacked in individuality in this case and didn’t bother to create a newer storyline that doesn’t have to do with the KGB.

Overall, this movie was enjoyable and good for viewers who enjoy a spy movie, but this movie wasn’t the greatest structurally and it suffered from being predictable and not having a whole lot of individuality compared to other spy movies.

The Amateur is out in theaters now.