Films for Breakfast

There are films that feel a bit familiar to other films you’ve seen in their respective genres before, and then there’s films like The Amateur – films that feel strictly like amalgamations of tropes you’ve seen done countless times before, and sadly, better. The film follows Charlie Heller (Rami Malek), a brilliant CIA decoder whose world unravels after his wife shockingly dies in a London terrorist attack. When the agency refuses to take the necessary actions to find his wifes’ killers, Charlie decides to take matters into his own hands. In this journey, his intelligence and wit become his greatest weapons as he goes across the globe to confront the people who were involved with his wifes’ murder.

Underneath the familairity, I can see why The Amateur looks like a promising project on paper; I couldn’t help but think of the original 1974 film Death Wish, about a mild-mannered man who loses his wife and utterly snaps, thinking that vengeance is the only thing that can satisfy his pain. There are moments like this sprinkled into The Amateur where it feels like it wants to explore darker themes and question whether or not we should be rooting for Charlie as a character, but ultimately, it feels completely half-baked and muddled by the end.

Rami Malek has proven himself to be a reliable actor ever since exploding in popularity with Mr. Robot and his oscar win for Bohemian Rhapsody, but it truly feels like his skills are completely deminished here. What could have potentially been a role to sink his teeth into and lean into what grief does to a person ultimately results in a performance that feels often odd and disconnected from the rest of the film. The supporting cast is also incredibly solid, but hardly anyone outside of Laurence Fishburne is given much time to make an impression.

A lot of this could be forgiven if the entertainment value was consistent enough or if the action was impressive/consistent enough. However, the film often feels like a bit of a slog to get through. The film genuinely feels void of any surprises along the way, and hardly provides any note-worthy thrills. There are some decent action sequences at times, but the camerawork style feels like it’s trying to copy the hand-held aesthetic of the Bourne franchise or its latter imitators, without actually capturing why those films pulled it off. It becomes more of a headache and missed opportunity by the end than anything else.

There are some brief glimmers of entertainment value when Charlie first gets started in getting his vengeance, and its often fun to see Malek play off actors like Laurence Fishburne, Jon Bernthal, or Holt McCallany. However, these elements never actually develop into anything substantial to hold onto as an audience member. The murder of our lead’s wife feels completely brushed over in the moment but yet is lingered on with hardly any time spent on developing her as a character. As the film progresses, it never quite finds its step and ultimately results into feeling incredibly trite and boring.