Update: September 13, 2017
Dragonlord's Review of AMERICAN ASSASSIN (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: A decent spy thriller highlighted with superbly choreographed fight scenes and Michael Keaton's bad-ass character.
After his fiancee is killed by Islamic terrorists in Ibiza, Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) goes on a personal crusade to punish those responsible for the tragedy. For the next 18 months, he relentlessly trains in UFC*, tactical firearms, knife combat and even learns Arabic and the Quran just to infiltrate a terrorist cell and kill its leader.
Seeing his huge potential as a black-ops agent, CIA deputy director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) recruits Mitch and places him in the custody of ex-Navy SEAL Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton) for boot camp training. But when the threat of a nuclear weapon comes into play, Mitch is thrust into the field where his skills and unconventional methods might just save the day.
Based on Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp novels,
The Maze Runner’s Dylan has got to have one of the best Hollywood agents in town as he is poised to star in another potential action movie franchise. Not bad for a guy initially known as just the dorky sidekick in MTV’s
Teen Wolf series.
Dylan got beefed up for the role and he looks very leading man-ish. He performs his actions scenes like a pro. One of the high points of the film is the realistic-looking hand-to-hand combat sequences are magnificently choreographed and sleekly executed. MMA fans will get a kick out of the many Jiu-Jitsu holds and submissions that’s being displayed.
But couldn't the author have come up with better names for their action heroes other than Mitch Rapp, which sounds like a name for an I.T. consultant, and Stan Hurley, who sounds like an overweight accountant.
Michael Keaton gives a crowd-pleasing turn with his portrayal of the bad-ass, no-nonsense Stan Hurley. It’s a meaty role and Keaton fully dives into the character with gusto and then some (he even exhibits some vintage crazy Beetlejuice-esque behavior near the end). The boot camp scenes with Hurley are the best parts of the movie and wished it were a bit longer.
The main villain is Ghost played by Taylor Kitsch, who looks like an older version of Dylan’s Mitch Rapp. Ghost was a serviceable baddie when he was always a step ahead of the good guys but he gets lame very fast when he reveals his feeble motivation for going rogue.
The first half of the film was very engaging, especially the boot camp scenes, but the second half gets progressively generic, riddled with clichés and run-of-the-mill situations. The climax features a spectacular CGI sequence (that would make Roland Emmerich proud) which doesn’t fit tonally with the rest of the film but it was still cool to watch.
Armchair writing, I thought for the first movie they should have focused on Mitch infiltrating the terrorist cell and getting his revenge at the end. The sequel would be essentially this movie with Mitch recruited by the CIA, trained by Stan and then stopping Ghost from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Overall, it’s not a home run but it’s still an entertaining, albeit a bit generic, geopolitical thriller augmented by some great action and by the charisma of its two leads.
Rating: 6.5/10 or 7/10
if yes what do you think of it, ouch. xD
