Return to "The American"

I had mentioned this movie earlier in the year and want to return to the discussion of it here, because I've been reading the reviews of it and was shocked by how critical they have been. This film is freakin' awesome! The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, George Clooney is definitely going to get nominated for his performance in this thing.

The movie is filled with these vast landscape shots of the Italian country side. It reminds me of Wayne Theibaud landscape minus the heavy texture and bizarre colors in that the people treking across them are so miniscule in relation to the rest of the scene and do so along an unbelievably thin line at the very bottom of it all.

All of the reviews are basically complaining that the trailers made The American look like a big action flick like the Bourne series, and the lack of high intensity, martial arts fight scene is what disappoints. First I really don't feel the trailers made it look like a huge action movie, it seemed, like I said, to be another of George Clooney's series of mildly depressed, mid-life crisis males as he did in Michael Clayton and Up in the Air.

The other thing, I feel this approach was just a much more accurate depiction. I realize I don't have too much knowledge of the life of a profession killer, but I really doubt there are too many out there that are anything like Jason Bourne, Agent 47, or Leon of The Professional or any of the other outlandish hitmen Hollywood has given us. In so many movies the assassin is able to just swing his weapon from the hip and in one swift motion and put one between the target's eyes. In The American George Clooney seeks up behind his targets taking several panicked steps forward before pulling the trigger. You can see the fear radiating from his eyes and the adrenaline pumping through him.

At the end of the film, Clooney is badly wounded in a final, four shot, half second exchange of gunfire. It is very likely this is the first time he has every been shot, and it is clear he does not know how to handle such a situation. He does not have the McGyver like innovation Jason Bourne demonstates for recovery from his wounds or the doctor's knowledge of Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Clooney's character, while certainly above that of just a regular guy, is still very much human.

So ignore all of these bullshit reviews. This movie is EXCELLENT!