The Amateur Review: Rami Malek Is The Anti James Bond In This Solid, No-Frills Thriller

Move over James Bond, Jack Reacher, and Jason Bourne — there's a new action hero in town and his name is Charlie Heller. Okay, so that's probably not the sexiest or most eye-catching attempt to bolster the ranks of our biggest fictional spies but, in all fairness, that's hardly what "The Amateur" is trying to accomplish anyway. For starters, there's the matter of our unconventional leading man. Rami Malek, talented as he obviously is, isn't exactly anyone's first choice for a CIA agent out on a quest for vengeance against the criminals who murdered his wife in cold blood. For that matter, neither would James Hawes land at the top of most filmmaker wish lists for a story like this, despite building up a solid career as a television director (most recently on "Slow Horses"). But if there's anything this quiet, unassuming, and minimalist thriller is mainly about, it's this: Appearances can be deceiving, and those who underestimate them do so at their own peril.

True to form, "The Amateur" takes this idea of first impressions and turns it entirely on its head. Instead of a beefy superspy who can charm and bluster his way from one mission to the next, we follow a tech geek who's utterly in over his head at every single turn. Adapted from the 1981 Robert Littell novel of the same name, the script (written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli) provides a modern facelift by anchoring the story unmistakably in the present. The editing by Jonathan Amos frequently cuts surveillance footage monitoring various characters, Charlie's death-defying stunts predominantly rely more on state-of-the-art computer wizardry than pulling a trigger (and the few times he even attempts to do so always seem to end disastrously), and the tension and stakes all derive from watching the world's most overmatched CIA operative hellbent on killing a quartet of targets.

The result is a spy movie unlike any other you'll see this year, operating on a wavelength much closer to Steven Soderbergh's recent (though far superior) "Black Bag" than the inevitable bombast of this year's "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning." If its ultimate ambitions can't quite live up to its potential, however, that's not necessarily the nail in the coffin for a movie like "The Amateur." Crossing one's arms and waiting to be wowed would be the worst approach imaginable for moviegoers to have here. Instead, there's a particular thrill to be enjoyed from an experience that's focused on much more than the thrills alone. If that's only possible by first defying expectations and proving skeptics wrong, well, so much the better.

What if James Bond existed merely on the fringes of the plot, while the only one truly capable of rolling up his sleeves and putting the hurt on the bad guys was a nerd like Q? That's a bit of an oversimplification for our purposes here (though, in my defense, a character literally references Aston Martins and jet packs at one point early on), but it's not entirely off the mark, either. The genre has directly addressed this topic before, as when 2012's "Skyfall" pit Daniel Craig's world-weary spy against the much younger Ben Whishaw in a culture clash for the ages. That divide is part and parcel of the text in "The Amateur," allowing wild cards like Laurence Fishburne's handler-turned-assassin Henderson to become the closest thing we get to a true Bond figure. Meanwhile, the narrative is free to fully explore an underdog dynamic all too rarely seen on the big screen these days.

It begins and ends with Charlie Heller, whose presence provides a key advantage the film wields with the precision of a deadly weapon. Delicate and nebbish to a fault, our main protagonist might as well be the perfect fit for the CIA department of Decryption and Analysis. Malek's quirky mannerisms and perpetually wide eyes already do most of the heavy lifting for an introvert who seems right at home in the windowless basement he calls an office. Tasked with staring at screens and handling sensitive communications, Heller has some of the most Weird Little Guy™ energy of any character Malek has ever played before — which, yes, is saying a lot for the former "Mr. Robot" star. His day-to-day life seems almost painfully lonely and absent of anything resembling friends ... if it weren't for the love of his life, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan). How did a mousy guy like Charlie ever end up with a charismatic bombshell like her? For a premise that goes to some pretty ludicrous places, that little detail may require the most suspension of disbelief of all.

To its credit and its detriment, "The Amateur" doesn't dwell on anything not essential to the plot for very long. It's hardly a spoiler to say that Charlie's wife is ruthlessly killed off hardly 10 minutes into the film, though her memory lingers on in an almost mind-numbing number of flashbacks and dream sequences. It unfortunately calls to mind that decade-old "Community" gag about the dead wife phenomenon, and not even Brosnahan's sheer willpower can inspire much investment in someone who's more plot device than character. Luckily, the narrative's stripped-down structure helps keep things lively. After uncovering some serious dirt on his bosses (Holt McCallany as Director Moore and Danny Sapani as second-in-command Caleb), Charlie blackmails his way into receiving a crash course in secret agent training to help hunt down those responsible. The chaotic killing spree that follows is by far the highlight, taking us all over the globe and featuring one creative set piece after another.

"The Amateur" won't be mistaken for the most realistic movie in recent memory, but there is something urgent and pertinent about how it views our modern Information Age as a tool rather than an obstacle. The film is undeniably at its best when grappling with the push and pull of technology versus old-school espionage. The swimming pool sequence has received the lion's share of attention in all the marketing, but a brutal hand-to-hand fight proves this high-tech thriller still can get down and dirty when the occasion calls for it. Although there's an argument to be made that the film doesn't take its paranoia trappings far enough, it gets a ton of mileage out of keeping us just off-balance enough to throw in some curveballs here and there. From acts of digital manipulation to voice analysis to 3D renderings of crime scenes, the terrifying (and incredibly invasive) possibilities of the modern world are constantly kept at the forefront. And while the two-hour runtime doesn't include a ton of lighthearted scenes, there are at least vestiges of dark humor creeping in on the edges — like an early moment I'll vaguely describe as taking Twitter doom-scrolling to its most harrowing extreme.

Is all that enough to elevate "The Amateur" from an entertaining enough time at the movies to one that's a little more memorable? Maybe not, as it ultimately gets dragged down by the weight of a few too many tropes, a somewhat haphazard plot that can't quite bring two separate storylines into a cohesive whole, and an ending that feels oddly unsatisfying as a result. Some casualties along the way include seemingly abandoned subplots centered around Adrian Martinez's CIA coworker Carlos and another unnamed character played by Jon Bernthal, whose casting comes across like a last-minute cameo added in after the fact. Not even a relatively meatier role for Caitriona Balfe, playing a mysterious CIA contact known only by the codename Inquiline, can redeem a supporting cast that feels like it was given short shrift.

Still, here we have a solid little drama made for adults, filmed with a workmanlike competency, and which truly looks and feels like a proper movie. (Shoutout to director of photography Martin Ruhe for balancing the film's washed-out color palette with some nifty off-kilter framing, along with the production team's commitment to actually shooting on location throughout the UK and adding a sense of scope and scale to the proceedings.) At a time when this has sadly become a dying breed, "The Amateur" seems to be arguing that that's worth celebrating in this modern day and age. Ethan Hunt may swoop in to help rescue blockbusters once again in the months to come, but leave it to a CIA nerd named Charlie Heller to save the day and remind us about the power of the little guy.

/Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

"The Amateur" opens in theaters on April 11, 2025.