The only thing American about The American is George Clooney, everything else is European. The cast, cinematographer and director are all from Europe. The film was made on location in Sweden and Italy. The films tone and style are distinctly Eurpoean. This film has more in common with an Italian art house film than an American spy thriller. These qualities are what make it an outstanding film.
The pace is slow, almost glacial and the emotions are restrained. Clooney gives one of his most subdued performances. The information the audience receives his minimal and they must understand the situation from what is observed.
The movie opens in Sweden with Jack (Clooney) warming himself in front of a fire. He is in a snowbound cabin on a lake. We assume he has just finished making love from the naked woman on the bed, caressing him. He looks content.
That sense of contentment does not last long and we learn that Jack is man who knows how to kill. We also learn that the woman has no clue of this ability, so he is also a man of secrets. He is quick and decisive in what he must do.
The movie takes us to Rome and the Abruzzo region of Italy. We learn Jack, now Edward, is an assassin for hire and we learn he is a master craftsman when it comes to making guns. From earlier scenes we know someone is after him, but we don't know why. Considering what he does for a living it could be anyone. We don't know why he is an assassin, but we can assume he has been doing it for a long time. He is an American, but he does not seem to have any allegiance to America. He is not a spy. Based on the tattoo on his shoulder he was in the armed forces at one time. Considering the money he accepts for his work, we know he is a now a soldier for hire.
With this knowledge the movie builds the tension, slowly and deliberately. With each scene Jack's paranoia grows. Is he being watched? is he being trailed? The audience is kept on edge waiting for something to happen. But nothing does, for a long time, which only increases the tension. And then when the action does commence, it is quick, brutal and without the satisfying closure or the typical action movie.
The movie really isn't about who's out to kill who. It's about a man's struggle for his soul. His last opportunity to find peace and redemption in absolution, and he turns his back on it. It is about a man who has been existing in a living hell for so long, he knows nothing else. He believes God has turned his back on him, and yet towards the end, he thinks there may be a new future, but for men like him, is there ever any kind of future?
This movie will not be to everyone's liking. It contains no massive shoot-outs with bullets flying every where. There are no extreme acrobatic stunts, helicopter explosions or CGI nonsense. There is only one car chase and it's with a scooter and a Prius. The typical fast paced editing style of American movies is replaced with long slow scenes from a single POV. This is the anti-Jason Bourne movie. It demands that you surrender to it's story telling and just watch and listen, as it unfolds. Many, especially those with short attention spans, will find this boring. The movie is subtle and a study in austerity and minimalism. Clooney does most of his acting with eyes alone. There is very little dialogue, but what is there, is very important.
The American received very divided response when it was released. Part of this is due to the movie trailer causing the audience to expect a more action oriented, fast paced, thriller. The studios do themselves a disservice when they cut a trailer to make a movie appear to be something it isn't, in order to sell it. Focus features released two trailers for the movie and the second gives the film the appearance of a completely different type of film. Because of this the film failed to live up to the expectations of the audience.
At the Movie House rating *** 1/2 stars
Movies of Interest:
The Day of The Jackal
The Conversation
The Limey
The International
The Parallax View
6 comments:
I stood up in the theater after this movie and out loud asked the 30 or so people in the theater if I was mistaken or did i just see a terrible movie...to the person, they let out a loud groan...This movie was pure and simply...bad...It spent 2 hours continually trying to build up false suspense for no purpose...in the end we see that the plan hatched by the bad guysa depended on them being able to predict certain actions by Clooney that they could not know...also, the mysterious guy he reported to was foolish, i loved the way he appeared in the end, assinine...not to mention, this American in this town where everyone notices him but no one connects him to mysterious going ons, except the priest, who, by the way, was put into this movie for what reason?...To attach this movie to films like Day of the Jackel or Bourne is ridiculous, it is no where near their class. This movie was so obviously made to grab the overseas dollar it was falling all over itself...by the way, it was also a nice tourist film for Italy. We also got to see fo no apparent reason, that Clooney is in great physical condition...the ending had enough holers to drive Ice Road Truckers right through the middle...
Dear Anonymous,
We obviously saw two completely different movies. I saw a film with a very tight script and no plot holes. It had reaal suspense based on what the character experienced in the film. And yes it features nice scenic views of Italy. I especially enjoyed the overhead shots of rooftops and roadways.
The film is slow and deliberate and requires you to pay attention all the way through and my guess is you reacted negatively and gave up at the half way point.
You call this script tight?...How about you allow me to drive a few
Ice road Truckers through it
You think I gave up at the halfway point? Actually, at the halfway point I said (SPOILER ALERT!!!), "He is obviously making a gun that is to be used for his own death". (By the way, the making of the gun was a ridiculous plot device). How about his ponderous contemplation over his line of work. So deeep. What line of work was he in anyway? A movie should have a peppercorn of explaining, but then again, it became apparent that not telling us anything was nothing more than a crafty and stupid script device. The riddle of this movie was "How many times will this guy nervously go into a coffee shop before he finally decides that the coffee just isn't worth it. For goodness sake, can we please have sometihng happen, maybe his toast gets burnt or something. Perhaps a little nugget about these "mysterious" Swedes. They were more like the Gang that couldn't shoot straight! Everytime they had a chance to kill him they either missed or passed the chance! And that boss, who was this powerful man sipping cocktails from his mysterious lair? Who knows? Who cares! How about that great scooter car chase! I suppose, in Italy a Vespa beats a car every time. No police questions as to where this strange American was the night of a few homicides and a car crash? Why the heck all these stupid phone calls to his boss, the guy was obviously right around the corner!! So, his ASSasins needed a very special gun to shoot a guy at a parade they know he will be at, in a town he is not supposed to be in. And the only place these experienced assasins could get a gun for a 40 yard shot was from the guy himself! How intriguing, how ridiculous! Meanwhile, they could have killed him numerous times at point blank range with no one around like when the lady was alone in the woods with him! This movie won, Most Assinine Plot Devices of the Year (the gun, priest, priest's son, lady assasin, extra itaslian town, so on). Of course, we know why they needed this special gun, so we could see Clooney do pushups and make the gun. I guess they knew he was getting religion too and the priest had to have a secret son in this secret italian town, that's because Clooney needed a priest with a son who had a machine shop, otherwise he could not make the magic gun. Of course, they had to take the inevitable Hollywood shot at the Church. But, he script gets even more preposterous. He adds chemical to bullets to make them explode because he knows they are going to use this gun to kill him! What a genius he is, "They must use my bullets because I am the only one who can make a gun for a 40 yard shot! Wait, I have a better idea, just shoot your assasin in the head when you are alone with her in the woods! He decides its not safe to stay in the one town so, he goes down the road and just brings his enterouge with him. A shame they never bother to tell us anything more about him, but as you said, I guess I lost interest about halfway anyway. I'll say one thing, his girlfriend was quite stunning, I give her 4 stars
Mr, Moviehouse, please tell me you gave this movie a good rating just to get under my skin. I'd applaud you for that.
You call this script tight?...How about you allow me to drive a few
Ice road Truckers through it
You think I gave up at the halfway point? Actually, at the halfway point I said (SPOILER ALERT!!!), "He is obviously making a gun that is to be used for his own death". (By the way, the making of the gun was a ridiculous plot device). How about his ponderous contemplation over his line of work. So deeep. What line of work was he in anyway? A movie should have a peppercorn of explaining, but then again, it became apparent that not telling us anything was nothing more than a crafty and stupid script device. The riddle of this movie was "How many times will this guy nervously go into a coffee shop before he finally decides that the coffee just isn't worth it. For goodness sake, can we please have sometihng happen, maybe his toast gets burnt or something. Perhaps a little nugget about these "mysterious" Swedes. They were more like the Gang that couldn't shoot straight! Everytime they had a chance to kill him they either missed or passed the chance! And that boss, who was this powerful man sipping cocktails from his mysterious lair? Who knows? Who cares! How about that great scooter car chase! I suppose, in Italy a Vespa beats a car every time. No police questions as to where this strange American was the night of a few homicides and a car crash? Why the heck all these stupid phone calls to his boss, the guy was obviously right around the corner!! So, his ASSasins needed a very special gun to shoot a guy at a parade they know he will be at, in a town he is not supposed to be in. And the only place these experienced assasins could get a gun for a 40 yard shot was from the guy himself! How intriguing, how ridiculous! Meanwhile, they could have killed him numerous times at point blank range with no one around like when the lady was alone in the woods with him! This movie won, Most Assinine Plot Devices of the Year (the gun, priest, priest's son, lady assasin, extra itaslian town, so on). Of course, we know why they needed this special gun, so we could see Clooney do pushups and make the gun. I guess they knew he was getting religion too and the priest had to have a secret son in this secret italian town, that's because Clooney needed a priest with a son who had a machine shop, otherwise he could not make the magic gun. Of course, they had to take the inevitable Hollywood shot at the Church. But, he script gets even more preposterous. He adds chemical to bullets to make them explode because he knows they are going to use this gun to kill him! What a genius he is, "They must use my bullets because I am the only one who can make a gun for a 40 yard shot! Wait, I have a better idea, just shoot your assasin in the head when you are alone with her in the woods! He decides its not safe to stay in the one town so, he goes down the road and just brings his enterouge with him. A shame they never bother to tell us anything more about him, but as you said, I guess I lost interest about halfway anyway. I'll say one thing, his girlfriend was quite stunning, I give her 4 stars
Mr, Moviehouse, please tell me you gave this movie a good rating just to get under my skin. I'd applaud you for that.
You call this script tight?...How about you allow me to drive a few
Ice road Truckers through it
You think I gave up at the halfway point? Actually, at the halfway point I said (SPOILER ALERT!!!), "He is obviously making a gun that is to be used for his own death". (By the way, the making of the gun was a ridiculous plot device). How about his ponderous contemplation over his line of work. So deeep. What line of work was he in anyway? A movie should have a peppercorn of explaining, but then again, it became apparent that not telling us anything was nothing more than a crafty and stupid script device. The riddle of this movie was "How many times will this guy nervously go into a coffee shop before he finally decides that the coffee just isn't worth it. For goodness sake, can we please have sometihng happen, maybe his toast gets burnt or something. Perhaps a little nugget about these "mysterious" Swedes. They were more like the Gang that couldn't shoot straight! Everytime they had a chance to kill him they either missed or passed the chance! And that boss, who was this powerful man sipping cocktails from his mysterious lair? Who knows? Who cares! How about that great scooter car chase! I suppose, in Italy a Vespa beats a car every time. No police questions as to where this strange American was the night of a few homicides and a car crash? Why the heck all these stupid phone calls to his boss, the guy was obviously right around the corner!! So, his ASSasins needed a very special gun to shoot a guy at a parade they know he will be at, in a town he is not supposed to be in. And the only place these experienced assasins could get a gun for a 40 yard shot was from the guy himself! How intriguing, how ridiculous! Meanwhile, they could have killed him numerous times at point blank range with no one around like when the lady was alone in the woods with him! This movie won, Most Assinine Plot Devices of the Year (the gun, priest, priest's son, lady assasin, extra itaslian town, so on). Of course, we know why they needed this special gun, so we could see Clooney do pushups and make the gun. I guess they knew he was getting religion too and the priest had to have a secret son in this secret italian town, that's because Clooney needed a priest with a son who had a machine shop, otherwise he could not make the magic gun. Of course, they had to take the inevitable Hollywood shot at the Church. But, he script gets even more preposterous. He adds chemical to bullets to make them explode because he knows they are going to use this gun to kill him! What a genius he is, "They must use my bullets because I am the only one who can make a gun for a 40 yard shot! Wait, I have a better idea, just shoot your assasin in the head when you are alone with her in the woods! He decides its not safe to stay in the one town so, he goes down the road and just brings his enterouge with him. A shame they never bother to tell us anything more about him, but as you said, I guess I lost interest about halfway anyway. I'll say one thing, his girlfriend was quite stunning, I give her 4 stars
Mr, Moviehouse, please tell me you gave this movie a good rating just to get under my skin. I'd applaud you for that.
If I wanted to get under your skin I would have rated it 4 stars. I saw the film in a completely different way .
I don't agree with any of your points...except that his girlfriend was good looking.
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