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Movie Review: American Assassin

Scott Davis

Hollywood has fallen in love with numerous spy superstars throughout its history. James Bond, Jason Bourne, and even Ethan Hunt are all memorable spy heroes with long-running franchises. There is something exciting about being a part of the spy world. Whether it’s the gathering of intel, the thrilling car chases, attractive romantic interests, or the prevention of some terrorist threat, the spy genre is a fruitful one. And Hollywood sure has picked from that tree over the decades.

The latest attempt of turning out a spy franchise comes in the adaptation of the Mitch Rapp book series. The popular book series started in 1999 and features twelve books, and its first film adaptation, American Assassin, is the eleventh book in the series. The film was originally supposed to star an older Mitch Rapp (Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell, and Matthew Fox were all considered for the role at one point), but CBS Films decided to go young with the hopes of kick-starting the next great spy series. The studio chose twenty-six-year-old Dylan O’Brien for the face of this franchise, which is not a terrible pick considering his fame from recent work like Teen Wolf and the Maze Runner franchise. Throw in a veteran actor like Michael Keaton, Taylor Kitsch as your antagonist, a promising director in Michael Cuesta, and you might just have a hit on your hands.

So, is Mitch Rapp the next great spy superstar audiences will fall for? Well, not really, but that doesn’t mean the movie falls flat on its face. American Assassin is an entertaining spy thriller that is certainly better than recent mediocre entries in the genre (i.e. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit [2014]), and some might even find it more than that. What’s keeping it from reaching the next level, however, is the lack of being truly unique. A good portion of this movie feels like a paint-by-numbers espionage thriller, and while that formula can produce decent thrills, movies like The Bourne Supremacy (2004) or Casino Royale (2006) use the formula as a base and take it a step further with their intense action scenes, kinetic direction, and twist-filled stories. American Assassin leans heavily on the violence (the film is rated R, while Bond and Bourne movies are PG-13) instead of entertaining set pieces. Sure, there is authenticity when someone gets shot or stabbed and you see the blood spray, but the action itself barely does enough to get the pulse going. The action is passable at best, which is something that spy movies tend to lean heavily on.

American Assassin tells a generic spy story very well, which is both a simultaneous compliment and shrug. The story follows a young Mitch Rapp who is looking for revenge when his fiancé is killed in front of him while on vacation during a terrorist attack. He is trained as a CIA black ops recruit by the hard-nosed Stan Hurley (played by the magnetic Michael Keaton). Hurley shows Rapp how to hone in his wild rage and anger towards these terrorists and before long the two of them are working with the CIA to thwart a dangerous terrorist attack. The story unfolds at a nice pace and has enough intrigue to keep most audience members interested, but not necessarily guessing. There’s very few surprises, which tends to be a hallmark in a great spy movie.

Shiva Negar and Dylan O’Brien in “American Assassin.”

One of the film’s strong elements is certainly O’Brien and Keaton. O’Brien hasn’t achieved superstardom yet, but I have a feeling he will someday (this is not the movie that will do that, however). And Keaton is just Keaton as he continues his hot streak after Birdman (2014), Spotlight (2015), and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). He plays Hurley with a strong amount of conviction and charisma, and has terrific chemistry with O’Brien. While those two are the strong aspects of the film, one of the weaker links is Taylor Kitsch. While not entirely the actor’s fault, his antagonistic character just doesn’t add a whole lot to the film despite the attempt to make the story feel personal to the character. His character feels like the most clichéd in the bunch, which is a shame because I think Kitsch is capable of delivering a memorable performance as a villain.

Not as slick as James Bond, nor as kinetic as Jason Bourne, American Assassin lies somewhere in the middle delivering an entertaining, but mostly unremarkable spy thriller. Those looking for a movie that serves as a diversion for an hour and fifty minutes will likely get more out of it than those looking for an engaging and thrilling espionage tale. The action is passable and the film relies more on violence for its thrills, which is a change of pace for a genre littered with PG-13 entries. Rapp might not be the next Bond, Bourne, or even Hunt, but American Assassin is entertaining enough to pass the mission.

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Scott Davis

Scott Davis is a recent graduate of Oakland University where he earned a degree in journalism. He worked for the student newspaper on campus, The Oakland Post, where he became the paper's managing editor. He also earned a minor in Cinema Studies at OU. Scott enjoys all things film and TV related, especially the blockbuster kind. He might be the biggest Christopher Nolan fan you know.
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