Review: The American

The first question I had about this movie was the title. "The American"? It probably is because George Clooney's character, Jack, is in a small Italian town where everyone is aware that he is in fact an "American". Or is Jack, a depressed, quiet hitman, the epitome of what it means to be "American"? I wish. Sadly, Americans are not that exciting (sorry guys). 

And neither is this film. Jack is sad. Very sad. How do we know this? Because he has obviously killed many people and has committed "many sins" according to the priest of the town who befriends him. There's hardly any mention of how many "assignments" Jack has completed, so it's not exactly obvious he's killed "many" people, but it's obvious he's not happy with his past. *cue sad, slow piano music set against beautiful, but barren Italian countryside*

Clooney's performance here isn't bad, it just gets old. From the beginning we understand Jack's character. He's tired of doing the same thing all the time no matter how good he is at it, and it's dangerous. Yet he can hardly try to settle down without someone showing up to kill him or get revenge or something. Yes yes, we feel sorry for you, Jack. BUT, can we get on with something a bit more interesting? It's hard to care about Jack that much if we don't know much about his past or if there's a serious dilemma in front of him, which there isn't really. Of course we care about him to an extent but that's more because it's GEORGE CLOONEY. Everyone loves George. 

This is another movie with the "last job". That fateful decision where the protagonist is like "you know, I really want out, but fine, I'll do this last job." And I think we all know what often happens with this sort of plot. You struggle with the idea of was this whole movie a dream or not???? At least if that movie is "Inception", but it's not.

So sadly, much of "The American" is predictable. I won't tell you exactly what parts are predictable because that would just make it even more predictable. But you understand. I have to admit it was a nice change from the other movies I've seen this summer as far as it's style goes, but it's not anything different. The bland, grey-ish blue colors emphasize Jack's dark past and mood nicely and make things neat to look at (I want to visit this town, it looks so cool), but it doesn't distract from the rest of the movie.

What we get is a movie that tries too much to be brooding and dark and doesn't excel at anything in particular. It's unclear what director Anton Corbijn was trying to achieve here. How am I suppose to feel afterwards? About Jack? Jack's short dialogues with the priest amount to little more than doing wrong in the past but finding another way to live happily no matter you've done. I guess that's a good little tidbit to walk away with, but it doesn't exactly fit too well with a character that doesn't show much of anything for the audience to connect with. In a way, Jack's character resembles the movie itself. Bland and brooding and  never quite reaches a crescendo or point of enlightenment for the audience to be engaged and excited.