The American

Jack a.k.a. Edward (George Clooney) is an accomplished assassin. But he is also a tired one. He, Jack not Clooney, is at the fag end of his career. Not that anyone of us can figure it out. The guy still manages to do a zillion push ups and a few more pull ups every single day. And did I mention the 6 pack? Some guys just have all the luck. Or maybe they just make theirs. Anyways, Jack is chilling out in the mountains of Sweden with his current girlfriend Ingrid (Irina Bjorklund). He is worried about something but puts that aside and goes for a walk with Ingrid. But soon realizes that he had reason to be worried. They are attacked by a bunch of Swedes – is it an obvious assumption that if u are attacked in Sweden then it is by Swedes – but his assassin instinct gets him out of trouble very easily. He asks Ingrid to call the cops and she reluctantly takes a few steps towards the cottage only to be shot in the back of her head by our hero. Assasins do it from behind as they say.

Realising that his life is in danger, Jack takes off and finds himself in Rome where he gets in touch with Pavel (Johan Leysen) his contact (if you have seen enough assassin movies you would know by now that each one has a “contact” – if you haven’t, now you know). Pavel advises Jack to move to a secret location in the mountains of Abruzzo. En route, Jack’s assassin instincts take over and he decides to change location to a nearby village. Once again he calls up Pavel and tells him that he is done for good, that he wants to retire. Pavel, however asks him to do one last job. Again, if you have seen enough assassin movies, you would know by now that assasins don’t retire – they are retired. Not left with much of a choice, Jack agrees to do the job because it doesn’t involve any killing. He has to only build a gun for Mathilde (Thelka Reuten) which would be picked up at the appropriate time. So he goes ahead with the assignment and in the meantime builds something of a friendship with Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) and also slowly starts falling for a local prostitute, Clara (Violanto Placido).

The American didn’t do quite well in India. And I missed watching it on the big screen about 3 months back. But I now understand the reasons. This is a genre of movies which could only be called Arty Espionage. It is a movie about an assassin directed by a highly acclaimed photographer, Anton Corbijn, better known for his music videos for Metallica and U2. What Corbijn may have realized by now is that directing music videos – different ball game from directing movie. Music video 5-10 mins. Movie – 90 to 120 mins. 30 minute movie will be a short film. So what does Corbijn do? He puts in long unedited shots without dialogues or any movement or any semblance of movement whatsoever. Enough to put a sane man to sleep. Leave alone a heavily jet lagged individual on a comfortable seat in the Emirates flight from Brisbane to Singapore. That would probably explain why I forgot the name or the story of the movie and had to resort to speaking to my close friend from Emirates to give me the movie list so that I could remember the name (read – I am getting older). George Clooney continues to give a performance that is ice cold as always, it has become somewhat of a style I would say. The rest of the cast is almost non existant. Overall, the movie is too darn slow to be called good. I would give it 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1131546393/