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Cold-blooded killer Jack (George Clooney) is hanging up his sniper rifle after one last job in Anton Corbijn’s The American. Stripped of profuse action sequences or superfluous subplots, this quiet drama is what would happen to Bond films if anyone cared enough to explore character and story.
Jack is an enigmatic conundrum of an assassin. He’s a lonely loner – a reluctant killer. As any seasoned hit man would know, it’s best to not befriend the local priest or neighborhood whore while working. But that’s exactly what Jack does on his last mission. Lessons go unlearned after he is forced to shoot an innocent Russian bedmate in the back of her head, but that doesn’t stop Jack from falling in love with a beautiful brothel employee in Italy.
Disheartened bad boys aren’t a novelty the action genre, but director Corbijn takes careful time to establish his cast in an intimate way; every character here has a secret worth keeping hidden.
Clara (Violante Placido) is Jack’s sexy Italian hooker du jour. What begins as a love affair of convenience takes a different shape as the two get to know each other over picnicking and dinner dates. Sound like true love? It doesn’t really matter. Jack and Clara’s loneliness as individuals is palpable and heartbreaking; their connection is based on an attempt to fill an empty void within themselves – and that’s okay.
Most of Jack’s time alone is spent in his hotel room, where he does push up’s and peruses books that satisfy his obsession with butterflies (imperative shots of butterfly neck tattoos included). The coolest part of Jack’s home away from home? He uses it as a workplace to assemble rifles for terrorist clients – homemade weapons partly made from (because if Clooney can’t, no one can…) used car parts.
Some of the best scenes are between Jack and neighborhood priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli). Like a teenager can spot a Twilight actor in a crowd, the priest pinpoints Jack as a man in need of confession. Interestingly enough, Jack isn’t drawn to anyone who doesn’t have some secrets of their own, and Benedetto’s no saint.
As broken and twisted as these characters are, they are all worth rooting for. The American is a departure from today’s run of the mill suave-killer’s-gonna-shoot-‘em- action film. Make no mistake, Corbijn’s movie will keep audiences guessing and wanting more – more intimate scenes between Jack and gorgeous terrorist client Mathilde, more homemade rifle assembly, more dinner drinks with Jack and Benedetto.
You’ll be curious where these characters end up. The American chronicles the sentiments that live in moments, and these moments are well worth the wait.
Jack is an enigmatic conundrum of an assassin. He’s a lonely loner – a reluctant killer. As any seasoned hit man would know, it’s best to not befriend the local priest or neighborhood whore while working. But that’s exactly what Jack does on his last mission. Lessons go unlearned after he is forced to shoot an innocent Russian bedmate in the back of her head, but that doesn’t stop Jack from falling in love with a beautiful brothel employee in Italy.
Disheartened bad boys aren’t a novelty the action genre, but director Corbijn takes careful time to establish his cast in an intimate way; every character here has a secret worth keeping hidden.
Clara (Violante Placido) is Jack’s sexy Italian hooker du jour. What begins as a love affair of convenience takes a different shape as the two get to know each other over picnicking and dinner dates. Sound like true love? It doesn’t really matter. Jack and Clara’s loneliness as individuals is palpable and heartbreaking; their connection is based on an attempt to fill an empty void within themselves – and that’s okay.
Most of Jack’s time alone is spent in his hotel room, where he does push up’s and peruses books that satisfy his obsession with butterflies (imperative shots of butterfly neck tattoos included). The coolest part of Jack’s home away from home? He uses it as a workplace to assemble rifles for terrorist clients – homemade weapons partly made from (because if Clooney can’t, no one can…) used car parts.
Some of the best scenes are between Jack and neighborhood priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli). Like a teenager can spot a Twilight actor in a crowd, the priest pinpoints Jack as a man in need of confession. Interestingly enough, Jack isn’t drawn to anyone who doesn’t have some secrets of their own, and Benedetto’s no saint.
As broken and twisted as these characters are, they are all worth rooting for. The American is a departure from today’s run of the mill suave-killer’s-gonna-shoot-‘em- action film. Make no mistake, Corbijn’s movie will keep audiences guessing and wanting more – more intimate scenes between Jack and gorgeous terrorist client Mathilde, more homemade rifle assembly, more dinner drinks with Jack and Benedetto.
You’ll be curious where these characters end up. The American chronicles the sentiments that live in moments, and these moments are well worth the wait.
Last edited by hgsmoth; 09-14-10 at 07:15 PM.
Reason: removing photo link