The amazing American

To say that The American is about a killer with a heart is to over simplify and do a diservice to this complex and atmospheric character study.

The only thing we know for sure about George Clooney's charcter Jack/Edward is that his job is to kill people; for whom and in what capacity is never revealed. The scene is set in a secluded snowy landscape where Jack is spending time with a lover in a chalet. On a walk he quickly realises he's being stalked. A gun battle ensues and the lover, now a witness, is disposed of with seemingly little thought. 

Quickly departing the scene of the crime he heads to Italy where his boss/handler arranges a place for him to live in a small mountain village where he decides enough is enough and is given one last, low key job to perform.

With a screenplay written by Roland Joffe (28 Days Later/Brighton Rock) and directed by Anton Corbijn (Control) The American isn't your average spy/assassin thriller/action movie. For a start the action sequences are few. Instead Corbijn plays on layers of ambiguity to create something far more deliciously subtle and tense that seems more about the central character than the unfolding plot.

The idylic pastoral setting it at once beguiling and threatening with Corbijn unexpectedly shattering the peace on occasion and making even the nosy neighbours seem slightly less than innocent. Jack is, of course, the biggest ambiguity. He is an emotionless, alert and experienced killer and yet someone who craves company and closeness. Friendship, particularly with women, is his weakness.

The story, seen almost entirely through Jacks eyes, threads between his growing relationship with the village priest, a local prostitute, the woman for whom he is making a gun and watching his back.

With Corbijn in charge it is beautifully shot and something that makes the brief outbursts of violence all the more stark.

George Clooney was at his contemplative best giving an engaging and ultimately moving performance ably supported by the leading ladies Thekla Reuten as Mathilde and Violante Placido as prostitue Clara.

This is one of those films that got it's hooks in and is hard to shake off. Loved it, four and a half out of five.

UK Rotten Tomatoes has counted 195 review with an aggregate rating of 65% while Metacritic has counted 37 reviews and gives it 61%.

Here is the slightly less subtle trailer