Between last month’s spy thriller Black Bag and this week’s release, The Amateur, adult audiences are finally finding reason to go to the theatres again. To enjoy smart, almost understated genre features that delight in dialogue and a forward narrative over the spectacle of tentpole cinema feels almost archaic in this day and age, so it’s fitting that The Amateur lace itself with the feeling of a late 90s/early 2000s thriller that, in its day, would’ve easily cleared $100m at the box office and stayed in cinemas for months on end.
It’s also the type of movie that easily serves as a vehicle for its chosen lead, and whilst not the most obvious choice, James Hawes‘s espionage thriller finally gives Rami Malek a product that feels catered to his brand. Malek’s a unique figure, and after his Oscar win for Bohemian Rhapsody, Hollywood hasn’t really figured out what to do with him. He made the choices that seem right on paper – Bond villain (No Time To Die), ensemble pieces under the direction of both David O. Russell (Amsterdam) and Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), and an Oscar winner circle thriller (The Little Things) – but none of these seemed a natural fit for an actor who has an air of the weird anti-socialite about him (meant in the most complimentary of ways).
The Amateur, a more muted take on the spy thriller genre, sees Malek as a type of inverted Jason Bourne, and his passionate awkwardness is perfectly suited to his Charles Heller, a CIA cryptographer who, despite obvious professionalism and dedication to his job, has continually been looked over at his workplace; a position he has practically succumbed to. Counterbalancing this is his home life, where he and his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), are very much in love with one another – she even comments on how puzzling he is – and in the briefest of moments that Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli‘s script allow them to be together, we sense their unique, natural dynamic.
I mention the briefness because poor Sarah doesn’t make it too far into proceedings when she is murdered in a terror attack in London, and the CIA’s inaction to this only enrages the mourning Charles even further. But in a case of making lemonade out of lemons, Charles blackmails CIA Deputy Director Alex Moore (Holt McCallany), after learning of some unsanctioned operations, into giving him elite training and enough resources so that he can personally track down those that are responsible for Sarah’s death. Ironically, it’s Charles’s own unique brand of hacking skills that set him on his path as he creates a series of elaborate traps to catch and retreat the information he requires; Laurence Fishburne, as the CIA operative hired to initially train Charles, weaves in and out of proceedings across the film’s 123 minutes.
Given the type of throwback essence The Amateur has, it makes sense that this was initially a project that formed in 2006 as a Hugh Jackman vehicle. The enhanced surveillance and all that proves conveniently possible probably would’ve felt somewhat revolutionary some 20 years ago, but in these tech-savvy times it’s perhaps a little dated. The no-frillsness of it all is rather charming though, and the fact that the film doesn’t simply turn Charles into a typical action hero is a major plus. The Amateur enjoys that Charles is, by most accounts, a bad spy, but once he works out what he’s capable of, there’s equal glee in seeing him pull it off.
Also leaning into its throwback mentality is the vast of support thrown behind Malek, with a variety of familiar faces and sturdy names offering their services for the briefest of appearances; each “guest star” has the credentials for lead work, but it’s Malek front and centre, with the likes of Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, Julianne Nicholson and Caitríona Balfe subbing in to elevate otherwise archetypal outlines.
Whilst The Amateur may prove a little too subdued for those expecting an actioner packed to the brim with explosive set pieces – though there is a neat sequence involving a suspended pool between two skyscrapers that ends as destructively as you expect – it’s the fact that it relishes going against such grain that makes it all the more appealing. The pure definition of counterprogramming in the current climate, Malek’s vehicle is worth the drive for the adults dropping their kids off to their umpteenth rewatch of Minecraft.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The Amateur is screening in Australian theatres from April 10th, 2025.
