American Assassin
2017 · Directed by Michael Cuesta
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- thriller
The story
Following the murder of his fiancée, Mitch Rapp trains under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley. The pair then is enlisted to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on military and civilian targets.
What it’s like
Hard-edged and kinetic, with grimy handheld camerawork that gets close to the fighters and then pulls back to wide, sun-washed establishing shots of Rome, Istanbul and the Mediterranean coast. Much of the palette runs to dusty ochres, steel greys and cold interior fluorescents, with night sequences in dim, underlit rooms where a single lamp carves out a face. The score leans on driving synth pulses and tense percussive stingers, dropping to near silence before a fight breaks out. Vibe: grim, propulsive, revenge-hungry, with a restless travelogue sheen. It suits a late-night watch when you want momentum rather than mystery. Violence is frequent and physical: close-quarters hand-to-hand fights, gunfire, explosions and a few brutal, bloody moments, with some sexual content and no gore spectacle beyond that. Its sustained dread comes from threat and betrayal more than horror. Made for viewers who like espionage thrillers and training-montage revenge stories, and who can take a steady run of hard violence.
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