The Amateur
2025-04-11
Vancouver, BC

Yes, the Jason Bourne and Mr. Robot connections are right there in plain view (and Blackhat I might add), and while those are some top tier inspirations, this was patchy at best. Give this to Michael Mann and he would kill it. But this mostly felt like a vain attempt to cobble together a film adaptation of a novel that was probably packed with a lot more nitty gritty details and coolness factor (I have not read the novel). There were enjoyable moments here, but fleeting enough that the trailers spoiled some of it. Going all John Wick club mode totally out of the blue got a good chuckle out of me. And as much as I liked Mr. Robot, I’m also afraid of revisiting it and missing the sense of wonder it initially captured for me — so Rami Malek’s performance here honestly makes me wonder if the intentional awkwardness of his characters just doesn’t work for me anymore.

Watched at Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver in IMAX. While this didn’t really benefit from the IMAX presentation, I’m still always glad to see more mature films get the premium treatment.