Title – The Amateur (2025)

Director – James Hawes (One Life)

Cast – Rami Malek, Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Jon Bernthal

Plot – When his wife Sarah (Brosnahan) is killed in a terrorist attack overseas, CIA decoder Charlie Heller (Malek) takes matters into his own hands and sets about enacting revenge on those that took the life of his loved one.  

“I was overstating your chances to boost your confidence”

Review by Eddie on 24/04/2025

Very much an old-school thriller in approach with a modern sheen thanks to its focus on the tech space not so much the run and gun and car chases angle of these type of government agency revenge films, The Amateur is a familiar feeling affair that isn’t able to maximise its unique sensibilities to become a breakout hit.

Giving director James Hawes his biggest personal project yet on the back of efforts on smaller projects such as his feature debut One Life and gigs directing episodes on the likes of Slow Horses and Black Mirror, Amateur looks and feels the part thanks to its not insignificant $60 million dollar budget and recognisable cast but its story and delivery leaves a lot to be desired, making this more of a “could have been” rather than a contender.

Following Rami Malek’s intellectually advanced CIA desk worker Charlie Heller (not to much of a stretch from Malek’s famed role in Mr. Robot) on a quest for revenge on a group of nefarious terrorists who killed his wife Sarah (soon to be superstar Rachel Brosnahan), Amateur attempts to stand out from a crowded field by having Heller as a far from stereotypical gun-toting vigilante but in attempting to distance itself from its familiars, Amateur seems to have forgotten to keep things well-paced and engaging as it struggles to fill out its two hour running time.

Becoming more frustrating as it goes along with half-baked story arcs, character developments and more than its fair share of missed opportunities, most notable in its casting of scene-stealer Jon Bernthal as a mysterious CIA operative who quite literally does not need to be in this movie at all, Amateur at times threatens to provide the rollicking good time its adaptation of Robert Littell’s novel might have delivered upon but there’s an increasing disinterest for viewers that becomes more and more apparent the longer Hawes film progresses towards a rather anticlimactic end game.

In his highest profile lead turn since he won his Oscar for 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Malek is valiant in defeat as the hard to love Heller.

Attempting to walk the line between neurotic tendencies and social awkwardness and then brilliance and cold-hearted calculating revenge, Malek is tasked with a decent weight to carry and in the end his skillset and audience good-will isn’t enough to heighten the end results of Hawe’s film that never feels as though it kicks out of first and at best second gear.

Arguably the most frustrating aspect of this instantly forgettable Hollywood thriller is the little moments found within that seem to showcase the potential Amateur had to break out and become a computer whiz Jason Bourne, from Heller using pollen as a deadly weapon or interrupting night swims, there’s ingredients here for something great but nothing is anything more than half-baked and half-explored.

Final Say –

No one expected the world from The Amateur but even the most forgiving and undemanding of viewers will be left wanting from this rather boring and stale thriller.

2 YouTube tutorial videos out of 5