Before you see “The American,” starring George Clooney, you need to know that this is not your typical big box office action thriller with a big name star. There are no chase scenes with exploding cars, no killing every ten minutes, no pulse-pounding music. Instead, this is a small art house character-driven story (more European in nature) that happens to have a big name star. Nonetheless, “The American” starts with a shocking surprise. After Jack (Clooney), the American in the title, and a beautiful woman have a romantic interlude, their stroll from a snowbound cabin in Sweden turns deadly as someone tries to kill Jack. Jack quickly and efficiently dispatches his would-be assassins and then kills the woman, too, because she’s now become a liability. Within 15 minutes, we know a lot about Jack’s character. Jack goes into hiding in Italy, instructed by his contact Pavel (Johan Leysen) to lie low for a while. (We never know what kind of organization Jack works for – Is he a CIA agent? An international operative? A mercenary?) He holes up in a small medieval town where he accepts the friendship of a local priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) and pursues a liaison with Clara (Violante Placido), a beautiful prostitute. While Jack and Clara’s time together evolves into a romance, Jack is also crafting a specially designed weapon for a female assassin (Thekla Reuten).
The entire middle section of the film consists mostly of long quiet scenes of Jack alone in his rented apartment, working on gun parts. Unfortunately, director Anton Corbjin’s slow pace is going to dismay many in the audience. But by the time the gun is finally built, we know a lot more about Jack’s character and we’re anticipating how the weapon is going to be used. And the prospect of a new and different kind of life with the adoring Clara begins to change Jack as he considers the possibility of retiring after he finishes this one last job. Too long in the shadows, Jack is the silent killer, the lone gunslinger and it’s taken a toll on his soul. Jack’s encounters with Father Benedetto suggest the possibility of redemption although it’s hard to forget what he did in Sweden. Clooney is effective as the weary Jack and with his name on the marquee, “The American” will have a higher box office than with a lesser-known star. And if you remember not to expect the typical action flick, you’ll enjoy this film.
9/1/10
1 comment:
The real problem with this movie is that this film could have been so good. With a little effort on the part of the director he could have made it much more exciting. We really knew very little about Clooney's character. They could have made him an ex-cia operative on the run or mob hit man with a bloody past or even a double agent with different police agencies after him. Anything to give this thing some life! This story was very slow and the ending was uninspired. Skip it!
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