THE AMATEUR (2025)

Intelligence analyst Charlie Heller’s (Rami Malek) wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), is murdered by terrorists in London. Frustrated by the CIA’s lack of progress in finding her killers, despite presenting them with his own intelligence, he decides to take the case into his own hands…

When CIA deputy director Alex Moore (Holt McCallany) refuses to let Charlie in on their mission to find his wife’s killer, he blackmails the CIA with evidence of their war crimes. The Amateur’s screenwriters, Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, are cautious with this film’s politics, working hard not to make America the bad guys but also not to villainise any foreign powers. It’s not systematic, the film wants you to know, just a few rotten eggs in an honourable system. But this information is enough to help Charlie get what he wants. And what he wants is the skills to enact vengeance on the people who killed his wife.

Charlie is shipped off to boot camp with Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne). Humorously and uncharacteristically not Hollywood, Charlie isn’t very good at the CIA operative stuff. He can’t fire a gun, isn’t a good fighter, and appears to lack a killer instinct. What he can do is use his brain. He is always three steps ahead of those around him and uses his puzzle-solving skills to make lethal explosives. This is probably more realistic than Jason Bourne, but it’s not that interesting to watch.

The Amateur forgets some of this later when Charlie momentarily turns into Liam Neeson in Taken (2008) when confronting an international terrorist cell. For a man who spent all his life coding on his laptop and repairing a plane in his secluded farm garage, Charlie sure falls into a life of crime with ease. This is just one of the many things about The Amateur which require a suspension of belief. If the film was going to choose to ignore reality, perhaps it should have indulged more in the absurdity to give the proceedings a bit more life. The movie would have felt much fresher if it had played up to the idea of a clueless desk monkey trying his best to take on the terrorists. Instead, the film sits in the grey space of too slow-paced to be fun, yet too dumb to be realistic.

The two big set pieces in The Amateur are spectacular but sadly fleeting in this two-hour film. Charlie is far from a comfortable killer, so he has to set up elaborate Saw traps to fend off the terrorists involved in his wife’s death. This, apparently, disconnects Charlie from the act of killing. It makes no sense, but it’s one of the few things that makes things watchable.

The overlong movie could have benefited from more of these elaborate deaths, especially in the final act. Instead, Charlie bounces from country to country, meeting new side characters like they are in a video game. How he reaches the conclusion and finds his targets is very loosely explained. It all culminates in one of recent cinema’s flattest big bad reveals. Don’t expect The Amateur to end in a big bang, instead, it opts for a monologue about morals.

Heller is the cliché on the spectrum, high-IQ CIA cryptographer. His personality ticks off all the tech guy on a CIA mission stereotype, which is why some of his later decisions feel incredibly out of place. Malek plays these types well, but he is uncomfortable in his own skin and has an unwavering stare. At times Malek plays the role too introverted, lacking any emotion or charm. Some of the film’s more emotional beats may have been more effective had Charlie been something other than icy and calm.

Rami Malek (No Time To Die) doesn’t have the charm to carry an entire action thriller alone. While a talented actor, especially in supporting roles, he struggles to sell the absurdity of The Amateur. He plays to type here, essentially reheating his role as introverted hacker in Mr Robot (2015-19). Charlie is a confused character, morally inconsistent in a way that just feels badly written.

What’s even more frustrating is that Malek is surrounded by much more charismatic actors and interesting characters. Stars like Jon Bernthal’s agent, Caitríona Balfe’s liaison, Julianne Nicholson’s CIA higher-up, and Michael Stuhlbarg’s terrorist are frustratingly underused. You’ll keep waiting for another twist or red herring, because it’s shocking that so many talented actors get so little to do in The Amateur.

Rachel Brosnahan‘s Sarah shines in the thankless ‘Manic Pixie Dead Wife’ role. Nothing is known of her, other than how much she meant to her husband. He keeps telling people how amazing and important she was, but the writing fails to let the audience know exactly why. Sarah reappears sporadically throughout the film as a ghostly presence, appearing cringingly to Charlie in his times of need. Her appearance doesn’t add to proceedings, and in fact can take away from key moments where Charlie is using his smarts to escape the CIA and find her killers.

Based on a 1981 Robert Littell novel of the same name, The Amateur doesn’t quite understand what it wants to be. It’s a political thriller which doesn’t really want to mention politics. It’s an action flick with only two set pieces that could constitute action. The fight choreography and stunts are very tame, especially when compared to the Mission: Impossible and John Wick‘s of the world. It’s a skill that a thriller can be this boring and also this far-fetched.

The Amateur ultimately feels like a poor replica of a cat-and-mouse spy film made in the late-1990s/early-2000s. Despite a decent concept, the film is overlong, poorly paced, and wastes its uber-talented cast. It’s neither a successful political thriller nor is it far too boring to be an action flick. It doesn’t even successfully portray an amateur tech guy entering the world of espionage. For a film about revenge, the pacing is far too slow, and the politics are too watered down. The Amateur becomes a slog not helped by a charmless leading performance.

USA | 2025 | 123 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: James Hawes.
writers: Ken Nolan & Gary Spinelli (based on the book by Robert Littell).
starring: Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Adrian Martinez, Danny Sapani & Laurence Fishburne.