After reading a few of the negative comments, I was apprehensive about seeing this movie. Glad I trusted my instincts and the previews. Let me make this very simple, as most other reviewers already provide you with a movie synopsis. If you enjoy movies like Die Hard, Jason Bourne, John Wick, Taken, etc. - you'll enjoy this movie. I do enjoy those movies, and I did enjoy this movie. It is exactly what it sets out to be, an entertaining action flick.
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peppertreelane15 September 2017
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p-jonsson26 August 2019This movie has been sitting on my unwatched shelf for quite a while and yesterday I finally got around to watch it.
I actually found this movie to be not too bad actually. It is far from a cinematic masterpiece but it is a pretty solid action/revenge movie. Dylan O'Brien is, unfortunately, pretty meh as the main character. Michael Keaton on the other hand is quite good in his character.
It is a reasonably action filled movie and I really like that they didn't try to turn it into some PG-13 crap. It is sometimes fairly brutal. The story is okay. It works. It is not overly complex and some people are probably moaning about it not being original enough. Well, I say, so what? It is a good concept so why screw with it? I do like revenge movies and although this one is far from the best, it is not at all shabby.
I wonder why some people seems to be claiming that this movie is just crap, one star out of ten and so on and so forth? Is it maybe because it dares bring up the subject of Islamist fanatics killing innocents? Or maybe because it doesn't try to sugarcoat things and explain these "poor misunderstood" psychopaths but lays the blame straight on said lowlife as well as on Iran? Or maybe because it doesn't try to blame certain of today's' preferred boogieman Russia?
I have not read the book so I guess, if it doesn't do the book justice, I can somewhat understand not liking it. However, to me, this was a decent, not spectacular but decent, two hours of entertainment. Decent action, decent speed and (with the exception of O'Brien) decent acting. -
russellr-9713617 February 2020You have your average whiners on here complaining because it wasn't like the book. But this is a solid action flick.
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'AMERICAN ASSASSIN': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
The new spy thriller based on author Vince Flynn's 2010 novel (of the same name), which is part of a popular spy book series. It stars Dylan O'Brien as a 23-year-old that obsessively wants revenge for the death of his girlfriend, in a terrorist attack, and is recruited by the CIA (as part of their black ops program). He's trained by a Cold War veteran played by Michael Keaton. The movie also costars Taylor Kitsch, Shiva Negar and Sanna Lathan. It was directed by Michael Cuesta (who also helmed 2014's 'KILL THE MESSNEGER') and it was written by Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Marshall Herskovitz and director Edward Zwick (who was originally set to direct the film as well). It's gotten mixed reviews from critics, and it's also a mild hit at the Box Office as well. The film starts out promising, but later it becomes pretty routine and forgettable.
Mitch Rapp (O'Brien) lost his parents in a car crash when he was 14. At 23 he's just found happiness again, after proposing to his girlfriend on a beach (and she accepts), but then his new fiancé is murdered in a terrorist attack in front of him (at that same moment). Rapp desperately wants revenge, and he obsessively trains (and plans) for it. The CIA becomes worried about his mental well being though, after tracking him, but instead of detaining Rapp, they recruit him. He's then trained by a Cold War veteran, named Stan Hurley (Keaton), and his first mission is to stop an old trainee of Hurley's (Kitsch), who's a lot like Rapp, from starting another world war in the Middle East.
The opening scene of the movie is really intense, violent and engaging. After that, the origin story of Mitch Rapp is still pretty cool and involving, but then (about half way through the film) it starts to feel really routine and somewhat boring. The action scenes are all still decent, throughout the film, but the story just loses your interest. Still, it could be a decent setup for a spy movie franchise (like they're hoping it is), and I definitely have no problems with Dylan O'Brien or the rest of the cast.
Watch an episode of our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://vimeo.com/234520321 -
M0vieL0ver6 January 2024This movie was probably very fresh back in 2017 when it was released. The two younger stars did a pretty good job and it was a sort of showcase of future more mature action or hero roles, if they wanted it. The maiming and gunshots and other forms of violence were more realistic than I normally see. It is a simple plot, yes. Have we seen movies like this before? Yes. But so what. It was a good weekend movie with popcorn and surround sound. Keaton did a good job. It's hard because you recognize him and remember his other famous parts, but that soon dissipated. This was a decent tight film that accomplished what it set out to do.
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Lancaster1629 September 2017American Assassin had all you could hope for from a spy film. The acting was good, the fight scenes were realistic, great action through the whole movie and a decent story line. Dylan O'Brien and Micheal Keaton wouldn't be my A-team for a spy film, but they played their roles well. Still not on the level of the Bourne Series, 007 and Mission Impossible. But still a good spy flick. Will be on the lookout for a sequel.
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johnyysmith26 November 2017Only good thing to say was the production values. Keaton cashed in on a film beneath him. Hollywood wasted another book which could easily have been scripted far better, and been the basis of sequels.
Apparently all that is needed to find an international terrorist cell is hang around outside their bank. And then allow a hormone driven nearly man to punch anyone he wants and they spill the beans. Pathetic
Another grown up not going to the cinema for a while now. There is little else to add. -
Better than many reviewers indicate.
American Assassin follows Author Vince Flynn's character Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) and his mentor Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton) who leads a super secret CIA operative group tasked to take out the world's most threatening bad guys - A secret camp in the wooded hills near Roanoke, Virginia provides a select group of hand-picked field operatives (assassins) with elite specialized training (for assassins) that supposedly exceeds Navy Seals training in sophistication of infiltrating and blending into targeted zones, with a killing effectiveness that surpasses Bourne and Bond.
One problem here - when you take on two of the most successful action franchises in movie history (Bourne and Bond), you better have your ducks in a row (including most importantly the script), and that is where this film fails.
The screenwriter needed to produce a more cohesive script in adapting Flynn's prequel book. The film looks and sounds like it was rushed to production before the script and story boards were thought through and revised.
Time is money, but not investing enough time sometimes leads to losing your entire investment, and if the desired outcome was a green light for a franchise, the "fail" here was in the script.
Michael Keaton holds this film up, and although I have a hard time seeing him in the role, he pulled it off with his trade-mark push-the-envelope edginess.
O'Brien was at first, hard to swallow in the role with his quiet vulnerable demeanor and school age heartthrob looks (with some edgy outlier undertones) that have made him so popular with millennials. But he frankly did an admirable job, and is the most promising element of the film in terms of franchising this into sequels. Not many lines of dialogue, but like Bourne, Rapp speaks loudly with his fists, feet, intelligence, wiliness, and willingness.
The make-up was amazing in portraying an ever growing number of cuts, bruises, gashes, and other assorted traumas accrued by the cast - realistic, accurate and impressive - among the best ever in film.
Action/fight/vehicle chase scenes were well above par as were the special effects and CGI (only one scene leans fully on CGI and was well done).
Cinematography and editing are very good, and the pacing of the film is excellent for the most part.
My guess is this is a one and done film, but what a shame, as there is great potential for an American Assassin franchise, and this is one if the best recent additions to the action genre, especially given more time to complete the film at a 007 level.
The director and screenwriter(s) need to get it together though, IF there is a sequel - the script is the weakest point, usually a death nail for my reviews, but the director, cinematographer, make-up, and fx make up a lot of ground in that regard.
For the hope of more (and better), I'm giving one additional Star bringing this 7-Star film up to 8/10. -
dave-mcclain15 September 2017For people all around the world, the September 11th terrorist attacks on the U. S. were very personal. Whether you knew someone who was lost that day, you're an ordinary American whose country was attacked, or you're just a compassionate human being who abhors religious extremism and violence against innocents, you probably remember on that day feeling some combination of anger, fear and sorrow - which you may still feel today. The callous boldness, extreme barbarism and sheer scale of those attacks made anti-terrorism efforts a top priority in law enforcement, homeland security and international relations for the U. S. and for freedom-loving countries and people across the globe.
Many individuals got personally involved in the struggle by joining the military or some other part of the government which fights terrorism - and many more started doing what they could within the confines of their lives, while wishing they could do more. I'm sure plenty of us wished that we were pulling that trigger when Osama Bin Laden finally wound up on the business end of an American rifle - or that we could be a skilled and heroic special operator taking down terrorist cells. It's that kind of desire which we see play out in the 2017 action thriller "American Assassin" (R, 1:51) - a desire that's burning very deeply in the heart of the main character for whom defeating terrorists has become very personal.
Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) lost both his parents in a car accident when he was 14, but finally finds happiness in his 20s with his girlfriend, Katrina (Charlotte Vega), to whom he proposes on a beach in Spain. Moments later, as Mitch is at the bar buying a couple celebratory drinks, Katrina is shot and killed in a terrorist attack. Fast- forward a year and a half. Mitch appears listless, but actually he's bitter - and motivated - and he's been very busy. A few short scenes show us that he has learned to fight and shoot, to speak Arabic and quote from the Koran and to act like a Muslim. Mitch has become a self-appointed one-man counter-terrorism task force, pretending that he's interested in being a suicide bomber so he can infiltrate the terrorist cell run by the man responsible for his fiancé's death and exact his revenge.
Mitch's quest for vengeance doesn't end up quite as he envisioned, but he comes to the attention of CIA counter-terrorism official Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) who says that they "like his agenda". She proposes that Mitch and the CIA help each other. He is reluctant to surrender any of his terrorist-fighting autonomy, but Irene convinces him to get with the program. She takes him to her late father's Seal Team 6 buddy, Stan Hurley (Oscar nominee Michael Keaton), who runs a small, secret counter-terrorism training camp in the woods of northern Virginia. Hurley is tough, skilled and smart. Mitch is all of those things too, but he's also extremely stubborn and impulsive, a rogue among rogues.
Yet, Mitch and Stan have to learn to work together and depend on each other to accomplish a critical new mission. The CIA learns that a former special operator simply called Ghost (Taylor Kitsch), with whom Stan has a problematic history, is shopping around a stolen plutonium core to some pretty bad dudes from Iran. (Apparently, that 2015 American-Iranian nuclear deal is making it tough for the Iranians to get a nuclear weapon but they still very much want one.) Mitch and Stan travel to Rome, along with another one of Stan's trainees (Scott Atkins) where they all link up with a sexy Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) in an attempt to keep the plutonium out of the hands of Iranian agents who are assembling materials and people to make a nuclear device, which they have specific and imminent plans to use.
"American Assassin" is a clichéd but entertaining entry into the spy thriller subgenre. Michael Keaton's character is accused by another character of being a relic of the Cold War, which sounds about right, because so are the movie's plot points and twists. Still, director Michael Cuesta (director and producer of numerous TV series, including "Homeland" and "Dexter") and screenwriters Stephen Schiff (TV's "The Americans"), Michael Finch ("Hitman: Agent 47") and writing partners Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (who co-wrote "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back", "The Last Samurai" and several other movies and shows) breathe new life into those tried and true spy movie tropes by giving this story a modern spin to which most Movie Fans can relate, at least on some level. Keaton is appropriately bad- ass, O'Brien is charismatic and exciting to watch, Negar is as deadly as she is beautiful and Kitsch makes a great villain. Also, Lathan does a fine job as the "M" to O'Brien's young James Bond character type. Good things all. Not just for the sake of this movie, but for the sake of the forthcoming franchise which this movie heralds. Based on the 11th novel (but first chronologically) in late author Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series, "American Assassin" gets the film series off to an unspectacular, but solid start. "B+" -
ernestpoirier14 September 2017Let's start with those of us who are huge fans of Vince Flynn, and his numerous novels about Mitch Rapp. If you have read American Assassin, I highly warn you NOT TO SEE THIS MOVIE, as it will be a complete disappointment. The only similarities are: The title, the characters, and the fact that Stan Hurley bites a guy's ear off. The other 92% of the movie is pure Hollywood b/s. The movie only needs to use the book as a guide, and take the story off the pages and onto the big screen, and it's a blockbuster, but no - they can't do that. They have to hack and mutilate a great story by Vince Flynn, and twist so many things that it makes you feel like walking out of the theatre.
Now - let's say that you never read Vince Flynn's novel. I still would not recommend seeing this movie. The plot is sketchy at best. You have actors playing roles that they can't pull off (i.e. A french-man playing a Mossul agent). arggg. And then there is the second rate special effects / CGI. There is a particular scene near the end of a Navy Helicopter flying into the scene where Mitch Rapp has located the nuclear bomb (i.e. that's not part of the book either, and it's the premise for the movie)...but back to the chopper - it's obviously a special effect. Fast forward 10 minutes to the end, and the USS IKE (Aircraft Carrier) is in the ocean and there are waves crashing over it's deck. SOOO LAME.
Shame on the director, producer and anyone else who was responsible for butchering a phenomenal novel. I pray there isn't a part 2. -
mharah28 September 2017Books are NOT movies. This needs to be said over and over, because there is always a cabal of complainers who hate any movie that doesn't faithfully follow its hardcover source. I haven't read Vince Flynn's American Assassin, and I don't intend to. But I feel fairly confident that he wasn't writing a movie. American Assassin (the movie) is a film-telling of the original story; it is NOT the original story, and it doesn't pretend to be. (Memo to Vince Flynn fanatics: Don't go see it.) American Assassin is a terrific watch, if for no other reason than seeing Dylan O'Brien nail it. And he is well aided by his supporting cast, most especially Michael Keaton, Taylor Kitsch and Saana Lathan. (I would like to have included Shiva Negar, but her character is severely compromised by problematic writing. She did the best she could with what she was given.) The script is larded with clichés, but for the most part the actors make good use of them. Director Michael Cuesta keeps it all moving right along. Most of the characters are very thinly drawn, leaving the actors to flesh them out as best they can. The special effects range from absent entirely to overdone. The script itself lurches from event to event, with an ending that goes beyond credulity. None of this matters. Dylan O'Brien is on screen ninety percent of the time, and his character is spot on. He is totally in command, and his charisma is entirely in charge. For a movie such as American Assassin, that's what it is all about.
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If they would just make the Mitch Rapp series into movies, they could make Atleast 22 movies. Probably more and if done right, they could make A LOT of money!!! It's an amazing series. This movie was good but doesn't do the book justice!! Will someone please take this seriously as a screen play??!!! Lol.
They characters in the books have so much depth and so much back story. You could make a whole universe about it. It would rival the extraction series with Chris Hemsworth. If you like a good read, then I suggest you read how Rapp consistently powers his way through Americas enemies while taking out corrupt politicians along the way!! I mean Claudia Gold could be played by Gal Gadot. Irene Kennedy by Tessa Thompson or Shuri from Black panther. Rapp is a toss up. Only a few people could be chosen to play him. Dylan O brien did a good job though!! Come on!! Make it happen!! -
dcnunley30 July 2020First, I don't believe that the casting director read any of Vince Flynn's books in preparation for casting this movie. Dylan O'Brien as Mitch Rapp, Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley, and Sanaa Lathan as Irene Kennedy? The movie is terribly miscast. Second, I wish Hollywood would stop appropriating the title of a book for a movie when the screenplay so poorly reflects the book's plot and content.
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losriley-914825 October 2023Slightly shocked not to see Shiva Negar ( Annika ) listed in the top billed cast.
Her portrayal of Annika elevates this film from being a gung ho flag waver to a more complex and grown up thriller.
The cast is flawless in their portrayals which keeps the viewer invested in their journies and emotional and physical sacrifices.
A film that is based on a best selling novel. This is apparent in the quality of character portraits. They are relatable yet also semi-superheros in the action sequences. This is one of the fun aspects of the film. I would recommend it as a face passed and engaging film.
The film is really well paced and compelling. -
caldarolad18 September 2017The movie wasn't bad, but if you're looking for a movie version of the book, you're going to be disappointed. This wasn't even remotely close to the book. In fact, the only thing that did follow the book was that there was a Mitch, Thomas, Stan, and Irene.
The movie went by really quickly, and the whole thing felt rushed. I think they might have done a better job if it was a 3 hour movie. -
elenaphysics29 September 2017I went to the movie theatre without any high expectations. But the film was really good. It had a fast plot, it was interesting and fun to watch. It could have been something like Jason Bourne but the movie lacked one thing. A good protagonist. No matter how cute the main actor appeared, he could not convince anyone as an assassin. And the worst part , I mean the absolutely worst part ever is that they actually had the one and only, super fighter, Scott Adkins and they did not make him the protagonist. I saw the fighting scene where Scott gets his butt kicked by this child looking actor( I have no idea who he is actually) and afterwards he is stabbed and he dies. I mean WHY?? he is Scott Adkins. He is like Bruce Lee. Hollywood can't give him roles where he ends up dead. He was the one who should lead in this film. Not this kid. I was disappointed. Other than my disappointment on the actor, the film was good. It was fast, the plot was common and unusual at the same time. You still have the feeling ,ok I have seen that so many times (revenge, blood, fanatics with bombs and nukes, unfinished businesses, loss , fast paced movie, spies moving around the globe) but it had some originality. It was different than other films of this kind. I liked it. But if they had chosen Scott Adkins for the main role, the film would have been so much better
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mcentrint3 September 2020The scenes in Turkey were rather cringy. I still wonder what the hell the constables were doing in the middle of a metropolis and why they spoke Turkish with an accent. Suprised not to have seen any ice cream vendors with a fez, though. It would really go with the art director's ignorance.
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Boy (Dylan O'Brien) sees her fiancé killed in terrorist attack and vows bloody revenge. He becomes a CIA counterterrorism agent, training under the seasoned pro (Michael Keaton) whose past suddenly returns to haunt him. Also starring: Yousef 'Joe' Sweid, Sanaa Lathan, David Suchet, Taylor Kitsch, Shiva Negar. Along Renegades", this is one of the good recent actioneers that has a risk of not finding an audience it deserves. Probably because everybody thinks that yeah, trailer ain't bad, but we've seen enough stuff like this. But wide release is actually around the corner yet, so let's hope for the best. American Assassin" may have a very typical action thriller trailer, and it's true that the story is made of clichés mostly, but the result is actually very enjoyable. The action is bloody and satisfying, the actors are good and charming, and the characters are just interesting enough to make you care. Almost all of the spy or secret agent action movies I've seen do the mistake of being pretty watchable for the most part but ruining the end: * introducing too many surprise twists to explain the events (= lazy storytelling), * taking itself too seriously (= becoming increasingly dull or heavy- handed), * or favoring often seen tired (how many times have you seen a final shootout on the roof of the building while it's raining, for example?). American Assassin" never drops the baton, or pacing for that matter, which makes it fresher than most of its ilk. Also, the movie wins greatly by having three cool but not that widely known male actors in leads, one of them older and two younger. Let's examine them one by one, shall we? Kitsch is surely one of the greatest American action stars still unrecognized by the wider audience. He's got the muscle, the looks, the charm - what's not to like? If only his part was bigger. This is the only sad thought I had when the movie ended. You remember Kitsch from Friday Night Lights" series, HBO's True Detective" season 2, John Carter" (as John Carter), Battleship", Oliver Stone's Savages", and The Lone Survivor". Still can't quite recall the face? Told you so. One of the unregonignized greats. Dylan O'Brien in the lead is a star of long-running Teen Wolf" series and also appears in The Maze Runner" trilogy. It's good to see him starring in a movie now, and he looks fit to kick ass too! I totally bought him as a young hero. And last but not the least, let's bow down to Michael Keaton, one of the more charismatic movie stars of 1980's and 1990's who's probably not that well-known anymore. But he has lost none of the charm. This measured performance of ruthless counterterrorism veteran is probably the most memorable thing in the movie overall. Maybe it's time for Keaton revival? He's appeared in quite good projects lately - Birdman", Spotlight", The Founder". Playing Vulture in newest Spider-Man" did not probably hurt either, at least not his bank account. All in all, this movie is one of the rare positive examples where tired and overused clichés find a new life thanks to committed movie makers - CIA, terrorists, trained to kill, nuclear threat, plutonium and all the other blah blah blah is not interesting just by itself anymore. The young hero of American Assassin" is actually the central character of so far 15 popular political thriller novels, so with any future commercial success, we may have witnessed a birth of a new action man who is interesting enough to compete with Jason Bourne, Jack Ryan, or the others. Director Michael Cuesta is also known for 2011's Roadie" and 2014's Kill the Messenger", look them up, both are interesting. So what if the movie is not exactly original? It's watchable and fresh, and the explosive ending is a joy to witness!
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siderite11 August 2020I think the greatest success of the film was the casting. Dylan O'Brien looks like the younger brother of Taylor Kitsch and landing Michael Keaton was a great accomplishment for a movie this banal. Other than that, the same old cliches of the temerarious young recruit who is good at everything and puts his heart where his mouth is, the hardcore American secret agent who is orders of magnitude better than any other secret agent, the righteous cause of the American (secret squad of trained killers with no oversight) and the happy ending where good defeats the evil and, do not forget, the evil Iranians and the necessary need to kill as many of them as possible.
The action was good, even if stretching the suspension of disbelief, the acting was good, but the script was really mediocre. Everything is done by the numbers and there is nothing that separates this film from any other of the genre from the last 30 years or more. Shut off your brain, enjoy the pointless close quarters combat and you might like it. Think just a tad about how the film started and you will see how the entire story (and characterization, tiny as it was) unravel. -
omerduman3826 November 2017Same Hollywood bullshit again. Terrorist Muslims, savior USA. There is a lot of bad detail about full movie but i will focuse on İstanbul part. Obviously there is not İstanbul. Classical arabic figures and environment that is not related with turkey. You guys need to know we are not living like arabs,this is not our culture. Not talking arabic, not dressing like arabs. we just got a history with them.
First of all plates are really funny, those plates r belong to France or italy or something. İstanbul plate are like '' 34 FK 4574''. Turkish speakings are the other comedy. İt is super ridiculous and bad. Give a little money and use a Turkish stunt, they don't have to be famous. And the gendarme scenes. Gendarman's mission is out of town, never in the city in normal mission definitions. They never protect a person as private security. And army car's siren, such sirens are not used in Turkey. Another movie was murdered with using classical stereotypes to propagate the Iranian nuclear program. Even Dylan o'brien and scott adkins have not been enough to save the film. Hollywood needs to stop that kind of propaganda's,when a political move is needed or they want to be shown a country badly. They are making that kind of movies.
This is crap,i don't recommend watching this movie.. -
hollywoodhernandez-7086814 September 2017American Assassin is an action/thriller filled with espionage, intrigue and plenty of action. Dylan O'Brien (The Maze Runner and MTV's Teen Wolf) plays C.I.A. trainee Mitch Rapp. You'll be amazed at the transformation of O'Brien as he buffs up to play the stone cold killer in American Assassin. The movie is based on the best selling novels of Vince Flynn and directed by Michael Cuesta, who also directs the TV series Homeland.
O'Brien's character, Mitch Rapp, becomes a lone wolf who is obsessed with revenge after terrorists kill his girlfriend while they are on vacation on a small island in the Mediterranean. He trains for a year in MMA and with weapons. He is so ruthless that he is kicked out of both his martial arts class and his weapons training class. His plans are to pose as an American who is sympathetic to the cause of Isis so he can get near enough to kill members of their terrorist cells.
While he's making his plans he also being watched by the C.I.A. and they extract him from his first mission in Libya and offer him a chance to be a part of a super secret and elite black ops team. Sanaa Lathan plays Irene Kennedy, a C.I.A. Deputy Director who is in charge of the black ops team and Michael Keaton (who looks fantastic at age 66) is a former Navy Seal who's in charge of training the team. As an ensemble the actors make for a very entertaining movie.
Keaton and his team travel all over the world to stop a terrorist plot between Russia and Iran to build a nuclear weapon. On the mission the team discovers a former black ops team member, only known as "Ghost", who is now a mercenary and is brokering the deal between the two countries. "Ghost", played by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) is a former protegee of Keaton who's now seeking revenge against his former mentor and against The United States, a country who he feels betrayed him.
While the cast is strong, it's O'Brien who carries the movie. He's on par with any former actor who's played James Bond except, unlike the Bond characters, he doesn't play his part with any humor or sarcasm. He plays it full out serious. He's a man obsessed with violence and killing, which makes for a very bloody and intense movie.
American Assassin is rated a very strong "R" for violence and it has a run time of 1 hour and 51 minutes. It will keep you enthralled and on the edge of your seat from start to finish. On my "Hollywood Popcorn Scale" I rate American Assassin a JUMBO.
Hollywood Hernandez -
shelleygilbertauthor27 August 2022I liked American Assassin. CIA vs The World. Director Michael Cuesta delivered a solid nonstop action film. Dylan O'Brien gave a tough sensitive performance. Michael Keaton, as always, was state of the art. A little too visually dark but I was already embedded in the story. I wanted to eat a bowl of cereal while watching this film but I knew if I put my head down, I would miss something important. Loved the scene with the dogs. It was funny. And then Spiderman right after the dogs. I did not expect that. It was startingly brilliant. You'll see what I mean. The moral of this story: it's always personal.
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madafaka_mw1 August 2020Cliché after cliché. Good start, with very good intrigue, but bad finish. The savior doesn't follow orders and because of that he saves the people. Great! Never seen that before! The movie tries a plot twist but predictable. Save your pocket.
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TheMovieDiorama27 February 2018Action thrillers are my strawberry jam (strawberry because it's red...like blood...urgh whatever). Whether it's Liam Neeson kicking ass or Bruce Willis yippee-kiyay-ing bad guys. I. Love. Action. Based off the novel, American Assassin revolves around Mitch who, after a terrorist incident, chooses to pursue and terminate every terrorist ever. But of course he must undergo some standard boot camp training, lead by the legend that is Michael Keaton. I have to get this off my chest: Dylan O'Brien is a beautiful creature. I want to look like I him, I want to smell him, I want to be him. He is, as with most protagonists, invincible. Shot through the chest? Just get back up again. Slice your hand on a blade (twice!)? Don't worry, just a paper cut. Run over by a luxurious vehicle? Well...where there is blame, there is a claim. I could tell O'Brien loved portraying Mitch. His passion was bursting through every scene and clearly likes doing his own stunts. Michael Keaton gets some action as well, and undergoes a vicious torture scene that involves fingernails. Taylor Kitsch is the antagonist, his performance was decent but the character was forgettable. Just a bland terrorist. Yes, the plot is also generic and we've seen it a billion times. What separates this from the rest is the precise execution and good editing (for the most part). I sat down and read 'American Assassin 18 rated'. "What!?" I thought to myself, then the opening scene happens and everything is justified. Exhilarating and horrifying simultaneously. Really well directed, nice one shot take. The last act gets slightly ridiculous but heck I was entertained. I was onboard. "Yeah! America!". Some nice twists as well to maintain the thrills. Also admired the fact they didn't force Mitch to have a love interest, would've diminished his purpose. Guys, I was expecting to hate this...I came out pumped. A pleasant surprise in my opinion and I want to see what more they can do with the character.
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mm-3918 September 2017American Assassin is surprisingly good. American Assassin starts out fresh, exciting and new! The beginning of American Assassin's the viewer experiences the pathos of character Mitch Rapp. A gut wrenching beginning develops Mitch Rapp story. The middle is interesting with the introduction of the Navy Seal Stan Hurley character. The secret cell is much like the movie Spartan's training sequence. Spartan style training with modern computer technology. Regrettably the bottom third of American Assassin becomes B team version the Jason Bourne series. The generic double crosses, disgruntled ex-employees, counter agents, deception and over the Jame's Bond ending. First third is 8 out of 10. Middle third 7 out of 10. Bottom third is 6 out of 10. A decent movie experience. A question left unanswered is did the Hurley character make a major mistake which came back to haunt him?