Shortly after getting engaged, Mitch Rapp is wounded and his fiance killed after terrorists attack a beach resort. Wanting revenge, Rapp finds himself recruited by the CIA for a secret unit, headed by veteran Stan Hurley...
Based on one of a series of novels by Vince Flynn, it has to be said, American Assassin is like a tick card of cliches. We have the personal tragedy of the hero, usually after a happy moment, the quest for revenge, the gruff, stern instructor, the undisciplined new recruit, the villain with ties to the unit and so on. There really isn't anything original here at all. However, just because there isn't anything original going on here, that doesn't mean that you can't make an good, entertaining thriller, so long as you have a good cast, director and script.
Cast wise, it's not too bad. Dylan O'Brien plays Mitch Rapp and is pretty good in the role. He handles the fight and action scenes well. Michael Keaton plays Stan Hurley and despite the character being riddled with cliche's, does make the character work. Taylor Kitsch, who plays the villain, known as Ghost, is okay good, though like Keaton his character is cliched. Of the others in the cast, Shiva Negar plays an agent who helps Rapp, Sanaa Lathan plays the assistant director of the CIA who recruits Rapp and David Suchet has a small role as a CIA director.
Michael Cuesta directs the film and does a not bad job, staging some good action set pieces, drawing good performances from the cast and keeps the film moving at a good pace. The script from Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz is okay, but to think it took four screnwriters to come up with this does seem surprising. It could be there was some rewriting going on during production, that might explain that.
So, it's not original but works on its own level. So why was I slightly uneasy with the film?
Well, it's a flaw in the film that it shares with, of all things, the 2012 film, Alex Cross. It's a film that really has no interesting female characters, except as plot points. Now, I'm not saying the film is misogynistic, however it doesn't know what to do with the female characters. Take assistant director of the CIA, Irene Kennedy, played by Sanaa Lathan. You think at the beginning she's going to have a bigger role to play but is instead sidelined, turning up from time to time but no real act. The agent played by Shiva Negar, Annika has more to do, but as a character doesn't get to develop as much as the others and in the end is wasted.
But, worst for me, is that when you watch the film, when it comes to innocent bystanders getting caught in the crossfire it does seem to have more female deaths than male ones. There's also a scene in a bathroom with Annika that is more brutal than some with violence with a male involved. Now it could be I'm seeing things that aren't there and I'm not suggesting the makers intended it the way I'm reading it, but it's an issue for me in the context of the film.
American Assassin isn't a terrible film and my unease with a perceived issue on my part aside doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the film. For it's running time it's not bad just not memorable. Perhaps if they continue the series (there are fifteen books so far about the character of Rapp), it will get better though.
Rating - 3/5
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