- Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitriona Balfe
- April 11th 2025
- 123
- James Hawes
Rami Malek stars as a CIA analyst who becomes a field operative to exact justice upon those who killed his wife.
Before he won the Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami Malek was best known for playing a computer whizz in the TV show Mr. Robot.
He plays a similar type of character in the new revenge thriller The Amateur, in which he stars as a CIA analyst who becomes a field operative to exact justice upon those who killed his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) in a London terror attack.
When his superiors refuse to take action against those responsible, Charles uses highly classified material to blackmail them into training him in the field, with the help of seasoned pro Robert (Laurence Fishburne).
Charles then strikes out alone, embarking on a mission across Europe to track down Sarah’s killers and make them pay for her death.
You don’t see films like The Amateur anymore. This is a slow, old-fashioned spy thriller that feels like it belongs in the ’80s or ’90s.
Because Charles isn’t a typical on-screen secret agent – compared to James Bond for example – you don’t get as many action scenes.
Modern audiences who expect their espionage films to come with explosions, gunfights and car chases may be underwhelmed or even bored by this because there are not many of those moments.
But on the plus side, because Charles isn’t good with a gun, he has to get creative and use his smarts to take out the bad guys.
Excessive gunfire can be repetitive and tiresome, but they’re in short supply here as Charles has other techniques, although there are still some fights and chases.
His confrontations with the villains are inventive and visually different and they are leading towards the final one, which sadly feels rather dull and anticlimactic by comparison to the ones that came before it.
While the performances are solid all around, The Amateur never levels up from good to great.
The story is interesting and the plot developments are compelling enough to make it watchable, but it moves too slowly and doesn’t generate as much excitement as it should.
In cinemas from Friday 11th April.
By Hannah Wales.
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