The Amateur review (2025)
The Amateur is an enjoyable cerebral revenge thriller that avoids making the mistakes common in this genre.
Most notably, the grieved and revenge-seeking party doesn’t suddenly become some cold-blooded killing machine out of the blue. He’s got to work for it and deal with his realistic moral code even if he has to take a walk on the vigilante side to see that justice is served. The Amateur also doesn’t see our wronged protagonist get bailed out of consequences simply because he has to complete his mission.
This isn’t the first time The Amateur has been released in theaters. Robert Littell wrote the screenplay for the 1982 film based on his 1981 novel (available on Amazon), but it’s been long enough that it can connect with different audiences.
Oscar-winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) is Charles Heller, a CIA decoder who enjoys cracking puzzles and staying in his analyst role. That doesn’t mean he’s immune from wanting to hang with the CIA cool kid Jackson O’Brien aka The Bear (Jon Bernthal, The Accountant 2), largely considered the most dangerous man alive in the office. The Bear does have some use for Charles as his personal Geek Squad when his computer equipment gets on the fritz.
Charles gets more love at home with his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan, Superman), as she appreciates his quirks and hobby of restoring a small Cessna airplane. Just as Sarah heads off to a business trip in London, Charles’ anonymous source Inquiline drops a pretty major encrypted bombshell his way implicating his boss, Alex Moore (Holton McCallany, The Iron Claw), in a cover-up to hide his off-book drone strikes.
Before he can determine what to do with the intel, Moore brings Charles to his supervisor, CIA Director Samantha O’Brien (Julianne Nicholson, August Osage County). O’Brien informs him that Sarah was killed in a terrorist attack. After his initial grieving period, Charles gets back to work. Using his decoding and digital recreation skills, Charles identifies the four terrorists — Gretchen Frank (Barbara Probst), Mishka Blazhic (Marc Rissmann), Ellish (Joseph Millson) and Sarah’s killer Horst Schiller (Michael Stuhlbarg).
Bringing Sarah’s killer to justice isn’t high on Moore’s priority list since he’s focused on Schiller’s entire network. This forces Charles’ hand. Either Moore and his right-hand-man Caleb Horowitz (Danny Sapani, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) go along with Charles’ unorthodox plan to receive a CIA field agent training crash course so he can kill Sarah’s killer, or he’ll deliver the drone strike intel to O’Brien.
Since Moore and Caleb can’t be sure if he’s bluffing, Moore agrees to Charles’ blackmail scheme and send him to trainer Colonel Robert Henderson (Laurence Fishburne, What If…?). This is an easy role for Fishburne, who gets plenty of screen time in The Amateur and it still doesn’t feel like enough. He’s so good in this morally grey role that it’s a toss-up if he is invested in Charles or just appeasing Moore.
Henderson isn’t impressed with Charles’ amateur skills with a pistol, but notes Charles is very proficient in the art of making bombs. Henderson’s biggest reservation is if Charles can really pull the trigger when he’s face to face with the terrorists.
After completing some very rudimentary training, Charles heads out to start tracking down the terrorists. That’s partially prompted by Moore calling his bluff and ordering Henderson to bring him in. Screenwriters Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli cover some of the bases in terms of how Charles is able to travel internationally without getting flagged, but there are some logic gaps they don’t bother trying to explain.
Why is this team suddenly in different countries forcing Charles to rack up frequent flier miles and naturally why Schiller is the last target he’s able to track. And how does Charles’ decoding background make him invisible to CIA tracking? In some ways Charles really is the amateur in this spy world, but in other moments he seems like an experienced master spy.
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Director James Hawes paces The Amateur wisely spending adequate time on Charles’ growing obsession with seeing justice done while realizing he’s not a ruthless killer either. The Amateur’s most extensive fight scene pits Charles against Gretchen, who proves far more adept at combat. It’s a smart scene in both the execution of the chase sequence and how it reinforces that Charles is not going to just gun his obstacles down in order to get to Schiller.
Malek won a Best Actor Oscar but still feels like somewhat of an underrated performer. He’s excellent in this performance as a regular man out of his element doing things he never imagined avenging his wife. Malek can convey so much emotion, which aids in a character who has to rely on his guile and calculating mind instead of his muscle.
Brosnahan doesn’t have a lengthy speaking role in The Amateur, but Sarah continues to appear via flashbacks or mild hallucinations as Charles imagines seeing her in the various locales. It’s an OK workaround of the revenge trope, but Brosnahan is an engaging performer and the film suffers slightly from her brief interaction with Malek.
Charles gets some assistance from another forgotten asset (Caitriona Balfe, Outlander) and starts to embrace his more effective means of taking down the terrorists even if it doesn’t involve a pistol.
This leads to some of The Amateur’s most spectacular sequences including the rooftop pool trap and a thrilling car getaway. Hawes doesn’t lean on spectacle much but absolutely delivers when it’s needed.
The Amateur is a creative departure from the standard revenge flick led by another strong performance from Malek and an equally capable supporting cast.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios
Pre-order The Amateur on 4k or Blu-Ray on Amazon. The film will be released for home video on Sept. 6.
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