‘The Amateur’ review: Rami Malek is an unlikely spy in underpowered revenge thriller

Dir: James Hawes. US. 2024. 123mins 

In The Amateur, Rami Malek plays a nerdy CIA analyst who embraces his action-hero side after terrorists murder his wife. Based on Robert Littell’s 1981 novel, the film means to examine how far a seemingly ordinary man will go for revenge, and the Oscar-winning actor intrigues as an introverted agent who relies on his wits more than a gun as he sets off across Europe to find the killers. Unfortunately, that narrative wrinkle quickly gets overshadowed by an otherwise formulaic and under-powered spy saga.

Tries to upend genre conventions without offering anything exciting in their place

The film, opening on April 11 in the UK and US, may only do modest theatrical business. (This is actually the second big-screen adaptation of Littell’s book, with the previous film opening in late 1981 and featuring John Savage.) Malek, the star of Bohemian Rhapsody ($911m worldwide), and part of the ensemble in No Time To Die ($774m) and Oppenheimer ($976m), will test his commercial clout, although the presence of venerable costars such as Laurence Fishburne may help entice older crowds uninterested in A Minecraft Movie. But even on the action front, The Amateur faces competition from the imminent arrival of The Accountant 2, another picture about a brilliant, uptight individual thrust into a world of desperate criminals and bloody murder. 

Here, Malek plays Charlie, a CIA decoder who lacks a dynamic personality but possesses a keen mind. Teased by his adoring wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) for how closed-off and risk-averse he is, Charlie is shocked when, on a trip to London, she is killed in a terrorist attack. Riddled with grief, Charlie applies his intelligence skills to discovering the identity of the terrorists, only to discover that his CIA superiors want to sideline him as he has uncovered incriminating evidence of the agency’s unauthorised false-flag operations. Forced to work on his own — and being trailed by American operatives recruited to stop him — Charlie will have to prove that he has the fortitude to be an expert assassin.

James Hawes, who directed the entire first season of Slow Horses, wants to subvert the 007-style slickness common to the spy-film genre. Instead of a suave James Bond, Malek’s Charlie is a diminutive, far-from-imposing individual. The Amateur works best when it plays that absurdity straight, following Charlie as he is trained by retired colonel Henderson (Fishburne). Charlie’s braininess makes up for his inexperience in the field, and soon he’s drawing on his mastery of surveillance and technology to bump off bad guys.

Malek, who portrayed the slithery villain in No Time To Die, emphasises his character’s slender frame and lack of charisma. The effect is intermittently fascinating, giving us an unlikely hero propelled forward by his anger and sorrow. Unfortunately, Hawes overdoes the sentimental flashbacks and quick cuts in which Charlie thinks he sees Sarah, these hackneyed devices failing to amplify the emotional stakes. And while Malek commits to Charlie’s nerdy, pained essence, he’s never fully convincing, even though The Amateur occasionally cleverly riffs on how difficult and dangerous a mission this meagre analyst has undertaken. 

The film jets from London to Paris and Istanbul, and cinematographer Martin Ruhe gives the scenes a globetrotting elan. But despite an impressive supporting cast — including Caitriona Balfe as a sympathetic co-conspirator and Julianne Nicholson as the principled new CIA boss — The Amateur mostly tries to upend genre conventions without offering anything exciting in their place. The action sequences are pedestrian, and Charlie’s journey offers few surprises. Even more disappointing, the film carts out trite observations about the toll that revenge takes on one’s soul. Ultimately, The Amateur takes a novel idea about an improbable avenger but is missing a crucial killer instinct.