American Assassin Movie Review

American Assassin (2017)

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Written by: Stephen Schiff and Michael Finch and Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz (screenplay by)
Directed by: Michael Cuesta
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar, Taylor Kitsch
Rated: R
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Plot
After the death of his girlfriend at the hands of terrorists, Mitch Rapp is drawn into the world of counter terrorism, mentored by tough-as-nails former U.S. Navy S.E.A.L. Stan Hurley.

Verdict
This is Bourne light. It's a cookie cutter action movie with nuclear bombs, the CIA, and terrorism. It's certainly entertaining, but won't be something you remember. It feels like just another 2000's thriller. With that being the case, why not watch the originators of this genre, the Bourne movies?
Skip it.

Review
This has a rough opening that sets Mitch on the path of hunting down terrorists. I'd really like to know how he made the leap from normal guy to terrorist hunter. I know why, but he's learned the language, how to fight, and how to infiltrate. As the movie tells us, the CIA can't train people to be this good. We don't know how he did it. Leave it to movie magic.

Dylan O'Brien plays Mitch Rapp.

Knowing what this movie was about, I wasn't sure if Mitch was already a spy or if he had joined terrorists for some weird reason. It creates a sense of drama before we learn what's going on.
The CIA happen to stage a raid on the place Mitch was trying to infiltrate and want to recruit him. Of course the CIA argues internally about this loose cannon, but they've got to recruit him. He's the best!

Michael Keaton plays Hurley.

The training program is led by Hurley and it's intense. They don't practice, this is real life simulation. The recruits are really going at it as Hurley fires guns right next to them. We get an intriguing trick about how slashing throats isn't effective and then they throw Rapp into the mix. That seemed a bit soon, but I suppose the movie doesn't want to get too long. We don't even get a montage.
I'd really like to see more of the training program, but we don't.

Taylor Kitsch plays Ghost.

A nuclear bomb is in play. It just so happens one of Hurley's former proteges has a plan for... something. I forget. Maybe he just wants to blow stuff up so the movie has a villain. I though the nuclear explosion visuals were pretty cool. This has the quick paced fighting that's common in movies now. This isn't bad, but there are just better examples of this type of movie.