Don’t Go See American Assassin. Just Don’t.
There’s not really a whole lot to say about American Assassin. If you’ve see any action movie in the past ten years, you’ve seen American Assassin, but probably written, acted and filmed better. It’s a movie with quick cuts, some torture and gun shooting. The usual.
Young buck Mitch Rapp (played by Dylan O’Brien) has a traumatic experience involving some terrorists and then he gets angry and then he starts training to be the toughest American Assassin ever and then he goes after the terrorists himself. The CIA enlists him and then he trains under a grumpy Cold War veteran (Michael Keaton). Only together can they work to stop the terrorists.
If you are looking for well-done suspense, well-shot action scenes, well-built set pieces or well-delivered twists, well, this movie does not have any of those. It’s straight forward with the twists so blatant that you will not be surprised at all. The movie also features Taylor Kitsch (of John Carter and Wolverine: Origins fame) as the cool / edgy villain who goes by the cool / edgy villain name “Ghost”. Again, I think this script was written in a day.
This movie was apparently based off the first of a series of best-selling books (sixteen so far) so I guess this also counts as a failed attempt to kickstart a Jack-Ryan-type franchise. Fans of NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans will probably love the heck out of American Assassin. I have recommended it to my parents.
Rating:
