The American- movie review

George Clooney is a fairly versatile actor. He does studio blockbusters (Ocean’s 11-13, Up In The Sky) as well as indie films (Men Who Stare At Goats), and he does them all with style. It’s fantastic to watch an actor that really let himself be different every time the script allows him. But, I’m afraid George Clooney is not a man of good taste. He’s too..cheasy. This is why sometimes he finds himself in really bad movies, that may sound good in the begining, but fails the moment the lights are out.

The American could be a very good movie. First off, it’s not trying to be a big movie. It is an adaptation that was directed by the photographer Anton Corbijn. The American is set mostly in Italy, and generally feels like a cheap James Bond movie. When I say ‘cheap’, I mean the movie feels raw, free from politics that mostly control the Bond serie. But it doesn’t use this freedom wisely, and this is what makes The American feels like a dream of someone you don’t know. Nothing really makes sense, nothing thrills, there is no reason and no anger. Everything is peaceful and pretty in this postcard film.

The character George Clooney plays (Jack/Edward) is seen only at its surface. We don’t get any inside, and when we do it feels as if Jack/Edward is playing a trick on himself. Is it a problem with Clooney’s performance? I doubt that, I bet that the script does very little to create here a real three-dimensional character.

The plot line is not proceeding to any interesting place, and even the sub-plots are not doing any better. The romantic plot is very predictible and the girl doesn’t even get the attention the Bond Girls often get. Nothing is too hard, or too sophisticated here. It is just a few pictures glued together, and in every frame there is the face of George Clooney.