Rami Malek

Holt McCallany

Danny Sapani

Rachel Brosnahan

Michael Stuhlbarg

Laurence Fishburne

Julianne Nicholson

Caitríona Balfe

Jon Bernthal

Adrian Martinez

Evan Milton

Nick Mills

Tiffany Gray

Kate Sumpter

David Mills

Anita Anand

Ryan Chilcote

Barbara Probst

Joseph Millson

Marc Rissmann

Lanna Joffrey

Tom Clarke Hill

Anna Francolini

Alice Hewkin

Michael Monicatti

Christy Meyer

Doug Cockle

Tammie Rhee

Henri Faudou

Marthe Keller

Philippe De Grossouvre

Lily Sinko

Jean-Yves Cylly

Henry Garrett

Christophe Dupuis

Bettina Kenney

Lars Anund Larsson

Jérémy Lagniez

Michaël Troude

Eli James

Jonathan Amos

Robert Littell

Martin Ruhe

James Hawes

Hutch Parker

Dan Wilson

Oleg Podobin

Gareth Wingrove

Ken Nolan

Gary Spinelli

Joel B. Michaels

Jonathan Hook

Charis Theobald

Shawn White

Volker Bertelmann

Martin Ware

Suzie Harman

Mike Prestwood Smith

Tobias Eedy

James Schembri

Maria Djurkovic

Kevin Timon Hill

Stefan Drury

Svetlana Punte

Matt Curtis

Thriller

Action

The Amateur

20th Century Studios

Hutch Parker Entertainment

Joel B. Michaels Productions

United States of America

English

Français

Deutsch

Pусский

Español

Türkçe

central intelligence agency (cia)

based on novel or book

escape

blackmail

revenge

agent

government assassin

government cover-up

government conspiracy

death of wife

spy thriller

computer hacker

terrorist

'The Amateur' is not all that believable or unique, but it without question made for a satisfying time at the movies for me. It feels like a long while since I've seen Rami Malek in anything; fwiw, 'Oppenheimer' over a year ago. This makes for a strong return into my world.

Malek is the beating heart of the movie, as you'd expect. I mentioned that it doesn't come across as all that plausible, though that is only in regards to what the film ends up portraying; Malek is convincing as the main dude. Elsewhere, Laurence Fishburne and Michael Stuhlbarg are good.

I was fully invested from beginning to end, so I can't really harbour any complaints. It's pure and simply a very well done movie, in my eyes at least. After the very good 'One Life'</em? and now this, James Hawes is turning into an interesting director to look out for.

Manuel São Bento

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://movieswetextedabout.com/the-amateur-movie-review-can-revenge-heal-grief/

"The Amateur ends up being a mild disappointment, especially given the legitimate expectations raised by the talent involved, both in front of and behind the camera.

Despite a committed performance from Rami Malek, James Hawes' adaptation fails to escape a formulaic, timid, and emotionally shallow narrative - its simplicity and lack of surprise stand as its most significant flaws. There are occasional glimpses of emotional weight, but the script rarely ventures into more complex or thematically challenging territory, resulting in an experience that might entertain in the most basic sense.

For a spy thriller with introspective ambitions, its biggest misstep was settling for the surface level."

Rating: C+

CinemaSerf

“Heller” (Rami Malek) is the geeky “Jack Ryan” type, stuck in an office five floors below sunlight working on intelligence gathering and decrypting for the CIA. Intrigued by his latest set of dossiers from a deep throat somewhere on the internet, he suspects he has stumbled upon something nefarious. Before he has time to investigate, though, he hears that his wife has been the victim of a terrorist attack in London and so now he’s seeing red. Using the information he has recently obtained as leverage, he gets himself trained and equipped for an operational mission to get some revenge. Thing is, “Heller” isn’t a natural born killer, and despite the best efforts of his handler “Henderson” (Laurence Fishburne) he isn’t considered likely to be much more effective than a wet lettuce when it comes to killing anyone. What we now see is that there are more ways than one to skin a cat and brain can sometimes overcome brawn if applied with plenty of explosives, sticky tape and even the odd rogue missile. That’s perhaps the problem with this film: we’ve seen it all before - and more compellingly, too. Malek does enough but the rest of the cast really underwhelm and the set-piece action scenes come all too few and far between before an ending that really just fizzles out. James Hawes has presented us with a great looking film, packed with gadgets and gizmos, and the story also does make you realise just how big brotherly society has become with cameras apparently everywhere manipulating imagery from your shadow cast on a water-filled dustbin lid - but after a while, that all becomes a little repetitive and the plot settles into an implausible predictability. It has it’s moments, but sadly that’s all they are and this is a film that you’ll soon forget all about.

I wont mix my words the only way to describe "The Amateur", is painfully long winded and ultimately, boring as hell. 

There are a lot of things that could have been done with what is, essentially, an action thriller. Regrettably, the overly long lead in, combined with the unreasonably timid handling, leads to a anti climatic experience, where the pay off in terms of thrills and actual action, never really arrives. 

Its by no means the casts fault. Lead actor, Rami Malek is as capable and convincing, as ever. The problem, in this reviewers opinion, is yet another case of a weak script, that needed to be thoroughly re-written.

In summary, the concepts solid but the execution is lack lustre, long winded and excessively timid. Not recommended.

The Amateur( 2025)

Don't underestimate him.

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A review by r96sk

Written by r96sk on Fri Apr 11 2025

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