<\/strong><\/p>\n Directed By: Anton Corbijn<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen<\/strong><\/p>\n \n When someone sneezes during a movie and another theatergoer a few seats away actually says, “God bless you,” it’s never a good sign – for the movie. You know what else isn’t a good sign? The man scratching his head incessantly in front of me, the four people who walked out, the woman a few seats over constantly checking the time on her phone and the man next to me counting the remaining Twizzlers in the bag as though they’re the last pieces left on earth and he’s got to make them last, all of which were monumentally more exciting than The American<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n George Clooney is Jack. Well, he’s Jack to some, but to others, he’s Edward. While in Sweden Jack gets too cozy with a woman and when his cover is blown, he has no choice but to flee. His boss Pavel (Johan Leysen) insists Jack lay low in a small mountain town. That’s where he adopts the name Edward to use amongst his new acquaintances, a priest, Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), and a local prostitute, Clara (Violante Placido).<\/p>\n \n Soon after his arrival, Pavel contacts Jack about one last gig to keep him busy while he\u2019s hiding out. He covertly meets with a woman who slips him the details of the gun she\u2019s hiring him to construct. On top of completing the job, managing his budding relationship with Clara and having heart-to-hearts with Father Benedetto, Jack must elude a team of Swedish assassins aiming to take him out.<\/p>\n \n Sounds exciting right? Not exactly. The American<\/em> is as a slow and deliberate as they come and even insultingly so. However, things actually start out decently. Jack goes on an icy hike with his lady, but winds up in a gun battle with those assassins. The moment is fairly tense and the results quite shocking, but from there all we get is lingering shot after lingering shot backed by a nearly non-existent score. When the pace has yet to pick back up after 30 minutes of the movie, it\u2019s quite obvious that The American<\/em> is quite the opposite of a thriller.<\/p>\n \n It\u2019s easy to see what Anton Corbijn is trying to do; he wants to make a chic and subtle character study. There would be nothing wrong with his stylistic choices had he considered the film\u2019s entertainment value as well. The American <\/em>is such a bore, it\u2019ll be nearly impossible for some to even give the story a chance. But even if you manage to emerge from the slew of silent gun-building sequences, coffee sipping and scenic shots without heavy eyelids, there\u2019s still not much of a story to latch onto.<\/p>\n \n Until Jack is given his next assignment, the audience knows little about his character, but even after his occupation is revealed, he\u2019s almost entirely one-dimensional. We know he\u2019s a gun-building assassin and that\u2019s just about it. There\u2019s an attempt to reveal his softer side when his relationship with Clara goes from pure business to genuine emotion, but not nearly enough time is devoted to the transition, making their connection entirely ineffective. In fact, the same goes for just about every supporting character in the film. The priest achieves little in his quest to have Jack accept what he\u2019s done and forgive himself, while a whole bit with a mechanic could have been removed entirely. Yes, Jack goes to the mechanic for gun parts, but it really could have been left at that; without spoiling the reveal, the mechanic\u2019s second plot point is meaningless. As for Jack\u2019s stealthy client, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten), her character comes the closest to sparking some interest, but before she can pick up the pulse of the piece, she disappears and doesn\u2019t return for another half hour. At that point, she\u2019s back to square one.<\/p>\n \n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.shockya.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/the_american_poster-535x824.jpg\" "\\"TheAmericanPoster\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n