The American

"And above all, don't make any friends, Jack. You used to know that."

First, a warning. The American is an atypical spy-thriller. If you're wanting to check out an adrenaline-fueled action film, you should check out Salt. The American is a slow- burner, and more of a character study than anything else. 

The main character Jack is an assassin and weapons maker who at his heart, is a lonely man. His last engagement was marred by an incident where he had to kill the woman he was involved with, and he's forced to move on to a small town in Italy where he's given another assignment and told to wait. But he finds himself drawn again to another woman, and that complication may turn his employer against him.

Clooney gives a great understated performance as the quiet, complex Jack, and he's joined by a pair of excellent, beautiful female leads in Violante Placido and Thekla Reuten. Their beauty is matched by the beauty of the small Italian towns and countryside where the majority of the movie takes place. The sedate pace of the film gives you time to absorb the mood of the setting, as well as understand the effect it has on Jack. 

The American will definitely not appeal to everyone. There are two or three effective action scenes, but at no point is that kind of thing the focus of the movie. Imagine the tone of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and you won't be far off the mark.

As an action thriller, I'd give this film maybe a 2/10. But that is not what it was intended to be. The ads and marketing of the film falsely suggest this is an action film, and that is a great disservice both to the film and to the audience. I suspect that the film's rating would be higher had the marketing been honest. It is almost the opposite of action: it's a quiet, introspective film. I didn't expect a thriller and so I wasn't disappointed.

As usual in this kind of film, there is not a lot of backstory. We never find out exactly where Jack came from, how he found his job, why he could take such a job, etc. But that's not really the point. We never really find out much about the back story on the other characters, either. I think we actually found out more about the priest.

I enjoyed the film in about the same way I would enjoy a short story, which focuses on a few points rather than furnishing a history and full explanation.

The American (2010)

Like many George Clooney movies, this one is cinematically superb. You can pick the obvious, like his "Good Night and Good Luck" which he directed and had filmed in gorgeous black and white, or "Solaris" for director Soderbergh's lyrical if romanticized sensibility. Or "Syriana," "O Brother," "Three Kings," and "The Thin Red Line" all in the last fifteen years, all filmed with love, and generally with good effect.

What this means is he is more than an actor, he's an influence behind the scenes. And he's good for the movies (the industry), even if sometimes he pushes his movies into a slickness that is dulling. And that might be the flaw in "The American," the reason why this doesn't quite rise to the poetry it intends. There are aspects that make it one of those films that will view really well fifty years from now. In fact, a lot of it is wordless and so it will be culturally timeless. But it also lacks that daring taut emptiness or plain beautiful long pace of its better intentions. That is, it doesn't go far enough.

"The American" is not about much, in a way. There is the LeCarre sense of a specialized spy alone in a dangerous world, and it's the aloneness that leads to lots of inner thoughts, an attempt to figure out what really matters in his life. And that's why it works in a bucolic way. The ostensible plot is about one final professional job the man has to do, making a highly specialized gun. There are enough scenes of him working on it on a kitchen table, almost caressing the machinery of it, high in a mountain village in Italy, that we can appreciate it on a simple level of craft.

There are women (always too beautiful for their own good) and there are evil men on his tail (ruthless and never quite as clever as Clooney). In other words, there are the usual elements of this kind of world. But most of the time the movie takes its hold on a more direct, sensory level. Some people will find that simply boring. Not enough "happens." But if you let it envelop you, and if you aren't in a hurry, and if you can see it on a larger screen (to maximize those sensory effects), it might really impress you.

Finally, it has to be admitted that the plot is a bit of a borrowing from "Day of the Jackal." Some of the acting is mediocre, too, but not Clooney, and not his one main sexual interest, played by Violante Placido, though she doesn't have a big role. The countryside is so beautiful you might be satisfied just with that, actually. Sit back and watch.

This was my second time around and I didn't realize it and I almost didn't keep going because the simple plot (with lots of peripheral characters) is important, and I remembered a couple of the big twists. But the movie has such a beautiful, flowing narrative pace and visual fluidity I ended up watching it again, every minute. And I probably liked it more this time, not worried about the events as much as how they were shown.

George Clooney outdid himself in this movie! I really did not know what to expect. I kind of knew what it was about, but decided that I will let it surprise me.

This movie is a low key follow the movie and its steps. You keep guessing and keep wondering what will happen next. You wonder who is behind it all. Of course you can guess what will happen, at least if you watched enough movies you can make an intelligent guess.

But what gets me with this movie is that even though I see things coming I still want to watch what happens. This movie just grips you and spits you out. It is not a blockbuster shoot them up type of movie. No this is more like the old style Italian Mafia movies.

If you decide to watch this movie make sure you have time to focus. Its the little details, the little steps that make all the difference. Otherwise it just becomes another movie.

It was only a matter of time before I watched this. A film hated by audiences for its misrepresenting marketing and rarely discussed amongst cinephiles due to its style over substance. The plot is vacuous no question, and struggles to fill up its runtime. However, as a character study, I believe Corbijn's minimalistic approach to be incredibly nuanced and tasteful. A contract killer on the run is temporarily residing in the Italian countryside where he has one final task to pull off for a client, to which he meets a woman he is romantically interested in.

The editing for the film cleverly lures viewers in, with one of two short shootouts being shown right at the start. This immediately sets a precedent for action, or perhaps stylish spy shenanigans. Once Clooney's silent but deadly protagonist finds his way stuck in the beautiful town of Castelvecchio, Corbijn slows the pace down to a grinding halt. Every action, destination or conversation is shown through Ruhe's gorgeous minimalistic cinematography. Ten minutes can be spent just following Clooney down a street, edited only to change camera positions. For some, this will be a major deterrent that will force many to turn off before reaching the halfway mark.

However, upon reflection, Corbijn's deliberate slow pace makes sense. He attempts to thematically convey the loneliness of this contract killer, inevitably disposing of those who grow attached to him. One could argue that mainstream spy flicks like 'Casino Royale' convey this through spectacular extravaganza, yet The American opts for an arthouse approach. Does it achieve the same results? In a way, yes. The biggest problem with this film is the lack of plot. It becomes overbearing at times that nothing is actually happening and is unable to evoke any characterisation or engrossing dialogue, but still remains intriguing thanks to the rural scenery and Clooney's nuanced performance.

It's peculiar, and a film that has lingered on my mind for some time now. It's unfortunately too empty to be a flawed masterpiece, leading me to look at my watch on various occasions, but certainly doesn't deserve the resentment that it has received. Technically meticulous yet unable to escape the all too common "style over substance" trait.