Movie Review: ‘The Amateur’

In spite of working for the CIA, his job is rather dull. He sits at a desk all day decrypting and analyzing information in a basement office of the Pentagon.

Charlie Heller’s (Rami Malik) only happiness in life is his wife – the love of his life. He prepares a special coffee for her one morning, the day she leaves on a business trip to London. She’s sipping his delicious brew when her Uber driver pulls up to their front door. Charlie loads her suitcase into the car and follows it down the drive waving and shouting I love you. The car disappears around a curve.

He drives into the enormous Pentagon parking lot, parks and enters the building. Passing though several security checkpoints, he finally arrives at his office and begins working. Much later he speaks with his wife who has arrived safely in London and is checked into her hotel – all is good. At work the next day, Charlie is summoned to his director’s office. She wants him to see recent footage of a terrorists attack in London. He is horrified to see his wife dragged into the street by four terrorists and then killed. The only comfort the hapless Charlie feels he can have is to take action against the four assailants.

He confronts his bosses with his plan to hunt down the four persons. They laugh at his suggestion, saying “You couldn’t beat a 90-year-old nun in an arm wrestling contest.”

They have other reasons for scoffing at his idea. They do, however, offer to send him to Camp Peary for training with a skilled operative – Robert Henderson (Laurence Fishburne). Much as he tries, “Hendo” can’t get Charlie to aim a gun, pull the trigger and hit a target. He gives up on the training.

That doesn’t stop Charlie from persuing his goal as he continues to collect information and plan. He may not be good with a gun, but he is good with a computer. Through his various researches, he discovers the identity and location of the four killers.

One is a Belarusian criminal (Madrid), another a South African ex-special forces operative (Romania), a Armenian intelligence officer (Paris) and the mastermind, Horst Schiller (Michael Stuhlbarg), somewhere on a boat in the Baltic Sea. The ultimate goal of his search is to confront the man who actually shot his wife – Schiller.

Without using his/a gun, Charlie eliminates three of his targets. One flees in front of a speeding car and is killed, another falls from a exploding glass swimming pool far above the ground. The third is victim of a cleverly arranged bomb blast.

The confrontation with Schiller is quite different. Charlie arrives at Primorsk on the coast of Russia with the idea of spying on Schiller’s small ship. Instead, he is captured and brought on board to face Schiller in person. Schiller hands him a loaded gun to point at himself saying: “If you want revenge, take it now, shoot me!” As usual, Charlie has a better idea. 

Directed by: James Hawes (Credits: One Life, Slow Horses) “The Amateur” runs 123 minutes and is a “must see” for a thrilling, unique story set in various locations in the world – with an unexpected conclusion. The plot keeps one engaged and guessing the entire length of the movie.