The Amateur 4K 2025

I looked through director James Howe's filmography and discovered that he was involved in the creation of the series Slow Horses, which I can highly recommend to many people. It ingeniously pokes fun at the tropes of the genre while remaining a serious spy thriller, deconstructing many of the clichés of such films and series. And yes, Gary Oldman is simply incomparable in it. So, after such a great show, it's strange that The Amateur, from the same director, turned out to be much more standard.

Yes, they tried to bring something fresh to it in the form of the main character, Charlie. He is an amateur and is used to working from his office on the lower floors. Therefore, field conditions are completely foreign to him. This is interesting. Also curious is his complete inability to handle a firearm. He has to come up with much more inventive ways to eliminate targets. Again, this is not a story about how a nerd turns into Jack Reacher. He uses his own methods and wins thanks to his intelligence and unconventional way of thinking.

But otherwise... this spy thriller has borrowed everything from everywhere, mainly from Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan. Of course, there are many clichés here. For example, the hero easily outsmarts his dim-witted (I would even say incompetent) superiors. Of course, we have a shift between different locations because “the film crew wants to spend the weekend in Istanbul.” And yes, despite the fact that our hero is literally a novice, when the script requires it, he is completely confident in his actions until the very end. This even detracts a little from the creators' only interesting discovery.

Rami Malek tries his best to move away from the image of Elliot from Mr. Robot, but so far it hasn't worked, and in many scenes you might think that these are shots from that series. There's even a session with a psychologist. It's a shame to realize that Freddie Mercury is his only departure from the image. The rest are just big names. Laurence Fishburne and Jon Bernthal, for example, add little to the plot. Although they are worthy actors with impressive filmographies, anyone could have played their roles. Except that Bernthal sometimes looks like he's in a spin-off of The Punisher. But the most disappointing thing is Rachel Brosnahan. One of the most promising contemporary actresses with enormous charisma is here purely a character function to make the plot happen. Moreover, she is inserted into some scenes of the film as artificially as possible.

And in the end, I didn't always believe what was happening in the film. Again, it's hard to imagine that a CIA employee, who is carefully selected and vetted for moral integrity, would take such independent action. In any country, security service employees are taught that the affairs of the state are more important than personal affairs, even if it means getting their hands dirty. And at the end, I shouted out loud, “I DON'T BELIEVE IT!” It's too saccharine and implausible, considering the seriousness with which the film fed us up to that point.

It may seem like I'm hating on The Amateur, but that's not the case. Basically, it will make you squirm in your seat at least once, as the thriller is really exciting at times. But it's a one-time thing and doesn't offer enough new stuff. The original title is Amateur, which means ‘amateur’. And pardon the pun, but it's really obvious here. ‘The Amateur’ really looks like a film for amateurs.