The American

            This movie was lost and the best way to describe it is with a terrible pun. It was lost like a lonely American in the beautiful Italian landscape in which it was set. Told you it was bad. This movie did have a lot of things going for it though. It had tons of potential to go somewhere good, but it just never seemed to get off of the ground. I mean it's premise alone gives one the idea that this could potentially be very fun and entertaining, but it just leads the viewer on to think something it is not.
             The American stars George Clooney as Jack, an assassin working for some unknown company. We first find him in the outskirts of Sweden in the middle of winter with a woman (strange how that happens in these movies). Anyways, the movie starts with a bang as Jack's life is instantly thrown into danger and there's a firefight. At this point Jack must go into hiding for awhile while things cool down hopefully and his agency can take care of whoever is after him. He decides to go off of the grid to Castel del Monte in Italy after becoming nervous about the orders he received from his company on what he should do.
             Once comfortable Jack contacts his boss and is set up with another job while he lays low. He is contracted by a woman named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) to build a custom made sniper rifle for an assassination. During this project Jack's perspective on his life seems to change as he starts seeing and dating a prostitute named Clara (Violante Placido). He decides that this present contract will be his last and then he is out of this business for good. But, of course it is never that easy to leave this sort of business so Jack must outwit everyone who is after him if he wants to lead a normal life with Clara.
             As I said above I expected something much different out of this movie, especially once it started with all of the action that it did. However, once Jack gets to Italy it is a totally different take on your typical spy/assassin movie. It moves quite slow and is more centered on the evolution of Jack's character then it is about his profession. This was unexpected, but still okay as the movie was not dead yet. As the movie progressed I was hoping the ending where all of the problems would finally intersect would be much grander and eventful. However, I found myself figuring out how most of it would go and in the end it was just disappointing.
            I did think there were some great things about this movie. One, it was entirely shot on location so you get to see the beautiful Italian landscape throughout the entire movie. Also, Clooney is the only American actor in the film as the rest of the supporting characters are all Italian or of some other foreign ethnicity, which I thought was a nice touch. Overall, I saw no problem with any of the acting, I just had my reservations about the plot and ending.
           I give this movie a thumbs down and 1 1/2 stars out of 4. I think it got over rated by other viewers and could have been much better than it was. As always this is just my opinion and if you're a huge fan of Clooney then give it a shot. You may find yourself not being as critical as me. This movie is available on Netflix as well as Redbox I believe. Enjoy!

My next review will be of the teen comedy Easy A starring Emma Stone.