The Amatuer Review

 

After his wife is killed in a terrorist attack, a CIA analyst uses his brains and hacking skills to get revenge on the people responsible…

The best thing about this movie is the cast and the acting. Rami Malek is very likable and fantastic as this meek but wicked smart “everyman” who has to harden himself to get revenge… Rachel Brosnahan isn’t in the movie a whole lot, but she makes good use of what screen time she has. Laurence Fishburne, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, and Michael Stuhlbarg are all great actors, and spoilers… They’re great in this movie, and they’ll have fantastic chemistry. I was really impressed with Caitríona Balfe. I had never heard of this actress before, but she really gave a nuanced performance with an interesting character.

The spy stuff feels very stripped down and realistic but still has its thrilling moments, like the early Bourne films, where there’s a lot of tracking people and finding information and ways to get people while evading others… That’s sort of like cat-and-mouse spy games while reflecting on what cost the spy life takes on a person is very interesting and (no pun intended) well executed by the filmmakers. Now there are action scenes, but not enough to necessarily make this an action movie; it’s more of a thriller with spy elements, but I enjoyed the more character-centric stuff they went with.

Great use of location; we go all over the world and see all these beautiful and stunning locations.

I like the pacing; everything feels very natural and realistic… There are a couple of, like, quick saves and lucky breaks the characters get through a situation, but nothing too bad that won’t take you out of the movie.

The cinematography and color of the film do have a nice pop to them, while keeping the naturalistic look.

There were plenty of twists and turns, and while it might take a minute to connect everything, I think most audiences will be able to follow it without major issues.

Very interesting use of technology in this film; it’s both interesting and kind of terrifying to think what we’re capable of nowadays.

Some people might be a little split on the resolution, at least one aspect of it that, honestly, I was a little torn myself about, but overall it’s fine, and I think people walk away from this movie feeling like they got a good story out of it .

I give it three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️️. Not bad for an amateur, lol.