Film: The Amateur
Currently back to Ireland for the weekend, of course. And oh, thank goodness for Ryanair finally switching their Friday night flight from Stansted to Shannon to a later time! I'd had to leave home at 3pm to make their previous time, which I'd been doing from Christmas - and with the boss cracking down on people skiving off early, the timing for this change couldn't have been more perfect! Not to mention how much more relaxed it was.. I could get some work done, could get something to eat, didn't really have to rush at all..
Today's film was The Amateur, in which Rami Malek does, I thought from the trailer, a fair job of convincing as a computer specialist at the CIA whose wife is killed by terrorists, and who decides to go into the field - something he's not accustomed to - to avenge her. Laurence Fishburne is the agent tasked with training him. Julianne Nicholson is the CIA director. Also stars Caitríona Balfe. I went to the Omniplex for it - funnily enough, Movie Roadhouse London was also going today, in London!
I risked heading through the city centre - which, would you believe, was no problem at all; perhaps they were all at the seaside, enjoying the unaccustomed sunshine and relative warmth. So I arrived in plenty of time, and even though the cinema carpark was quite crowded, I managed a space. They're currently renovating the cinema, and have moved the cash desk out to the front entrance, which is slightly surreal - you order whatever you want there, and pay in cash (or by card at one of the self-service screens), then go and collect your purchase (if food or drink) at the desks by the wall. Worked quite quickly, and off I went to the screen - noting, along the way, the swanky new entrances, both to the toilets, and to the screens. My screen had a smattering of people, mid-afternoon.
We've been familiar for years with the idea that the nerdy computer geek in school grew up to be a multi-millionaire tech genius - revenge is sweet, and indeed, from my experience, tech is the best industry to work in, overall. Well, it had to happen - some computer geek decided it'd be nice to be James Bond, hence this film. Indeed, we do see how his colleagues treat him at the start of the film - pretty much ignoring him, except when they need him to fix the tech. His main work relationship is actually with an anonymous online contact, who keeps their details private - but with whom, at least, he gets to have semi-normal conversations. Oh, and he adores his wife - we're left in no doubt about that, as he bids her farewell on a work trip to London, of all places. She's staying at the "Christopher Street Hotel" - actually the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, adjacent to St. Pancras station, and which I've passed many times - particularly when I lived walking distance from there. Very swanky!
So, she turns up dead - the CIA helpfully pull surveillance footage with close-ups of what happened to her. Devastated, he delves into the investigation, and using his specialist skills of matching names to faces and analysing security footage, he identifies the killers, then, rather naturally - given whom he works for - expects them to go after them. And is distraught when they break it to him that they have bigger fish to fry, so they won't be doing that.
Meantime, our protagonist's anonymous source has fed him secret documentation, heavily encrypted, and showing original versions of documents that were altered, and led to the authorisation of "black-ops" operations that resulted in large-scale civilian casualties. He's appalled (gee! the CIA in covert operations to kill civilians - who knew), but soon realises that he can use this as a bargaining chip. Wanting justice for his wife, he shows the chief whose name is on the documents what he has, and promises to leak them unless the CIA agrees to him getting field training so he can do what they're refusing to do, and go after his wife's killers himself. And they figure - why not? What harm can it do?
His trainer remarks that he doesn't have it in him to be a killer. He does have specific skills at which he excels, though - bomb-making, for instance (he asks to keep the instructor's manual), and, of course, hacking of electronic systems. By the time his superiors realise that he was bluffing about having a "deadman's switch", whereby, in the event of his death or disappearance, evidence is immediately sent to the press - well, he's left the country and gone underground. Cue some globe-hopping - and some lovely scenery, featuring London, Paris, the train south from there, and some less salubrious environs in Eastern Europe. You know, from another actor I mightn't have bought it, but Rami Malek manages to pull off what is an unusual role, geek to 007.
Throw in some interesting deaths - reminiscent of the Saw franchise, in which people are killed in a manner unique to them, and taken from some habit, or perceived character flaw, of theirs - and you have a very unusual and engaging film, Rami Malek looking uncomfortable throughout. The tech used is clever, and while the ending is a bit pat, at least it doesn't involve our lead character just becoming trigger-happy, like the agents who've always looked down on him. Nah, if you're into spy films, thrillers - I'd recommend this.
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