American Assassin
A topsy turvy tale of revenge, torture, terrorism and the CIA. American Assassin is a action thriller directed by Michael Cuesta and based on the novel of the same name by Vince Flynn. The film stars Dylan O’Brien as Mitch Rapp and Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley, a pair brought together by the want and need to have purpose in life and to take terrorists down.
Like most Action thrillers, the protagonist, Mitch Rapp, has suffered lost at a huge scale, much like James Bond and Jason Bourne. But O’Brien’s acting doesn’t really show the loss and he seems very wooden in the scenes in which he is meant to be feeling grief and it is hard to connect with his character because of this.
I am starting to like the direction that action movies are going in, to include realistic blood splatter in gunfights, this made this film a bit better than it was. Film is fiction but that doesn’t mean that a little bit of realism is bad. American Assassin has a lot of blood, explosions and is amazing in that aspect. Not that much in the storyline or main character’s acting.
The main reason I had wanted to watch this film was because Michael Keaton. He blew me away with his skills as an actor in several moments in the film, the most notable being a scene in which he is being tortured. His pain and bravery, made me feel for his character, I was on the edge of my seat, hoping for survival. Keaton is just that good of an actor.
The film was alright and kept me entertained, could’ve had a better actor in the lead role, but michael keaton’s casting made up for that. It fueled the basic needs for an action thriller and that’s a good thing.
Rating: R16 Violence, cruelty & offensive language.
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