ACJayC

Disappointingly barebones and kind of boring.

I was low-key looking forward to this movie when I first saw the trailer. An original samurai drama in European lands? Hell yeah! But in reality, this movie feels skeletal. The story is promising and it has its moments, but it lacks build up and layered characterization. It doesn't help that some scenes feel a bit illogical, making the characters seem either stupid or nonsensical.

Visually, this movie is fine. I love Tornado's costume design and the cinematography is decent. But I feel like the coloration is a bit dull and not all that interesting. The soundtrack overall is fine, but the more mellow songs are really good.

Not bad, but not good either. The themes and "symbolism" of the movie are cool in theory and I'm personally fine with the performances. Barry (my beloved) is good and so is Jenna. The Weeknd's performance is mediocre, but I do think the script drags him (and everyone else) down a bit.

That's just the thing, though. The writing is so laughably bad, meta, and self-indulgent that it overshadows any potential this movie has. That and the weird cinematography (that spinning camera is gonna throw me for a loop!).

Someone tell Abel to look up a writing masterclass and get his head out of his own ass.

(Shout-out to my sister for watching this with me, and actually trying to find deeper elements of the movie that I could buy into)

I'll admit. I kind of like this movie. It's nothing special or groundbreaking, but the good script and a mostly layered protagonist did leave me impressed. It's not all great, though.

Rami Malek's role as Charlie Heller is a decent one. Heller has a good enough arc to make him a character with enough depth. His characterization is well done and Rami does a good job with the material. It is unfortunate that his development gets put on hold midway through the movie, though, as there was still a bit more that could've been done. But other than that, I found myself really liking Charlie Heller and his story. What I don't like, however, is the plot surrounding his story. It's a plot driven by characters that are extremely one dimensional, with plot beats that don't have the build up to make them all that interesting. In fact, there are times where the story feels a bit messy, only for Heller to get things back on track. One thing I really appreciate about this movie is the screenplay. The dialogue is pretty good and scenes do play out in a consistent way. I also love how the story takes its time in the first act, setting up Heller's arc. The script does a good job at providing enough material to work with, but the story's flaws overshadow some of the these efforts.

The performances and directing is good, but not perfect. I couldn't help but feel that some of the more emotional scenes were treading melodramatic grounds. It just felt a bit much at times, especially since we don't spend enough time with other characters. The action set pieces are fine, but nothing special. While I'm not the biggest fan of the soundtrack, it had its moments.

The Amateur is better than I expected, but it's still faulty in a few areas. I think Charlie Heller is a good character in a messy story. And while I think the movie could've presented itself a bit better, I do think this is an action-flick I'll be revisiting from time to time.

(Also this movie feels like if Mr. Robot was an action movie. There's literally a therapy scene, too.)