There are lots of upcoming action flicks set to hit the 2025 movies calendar, and many movie lovers have been looking forward to James Hawes’ The Amateur. The film stars Rami Malek as CIA cryptographer-turned-vigilante Charles Heller, who goes on a solo mission to avenge his wife’s death. Critics had the opportunity to screen it ahead of its April 11 release to theaters, so what are they saying about the revenge thriller?
The Amateur is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Robert Littell starring Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Laurence Fishburne and more. But in CinemaBlend’s review of The Amateur, Eric Eisenberg says it's great cast is wasted on a movie that is “an absolute snore.” He gives it 2 stars out of 5, and writes:
It’s a film that is lacking in both flavor and energy. It has 60 minutes of plot stuck in a 123 minute package, its action hanging on four mediocre set pieces (half of which have been heavily featured in the marketing), and it’s a persistent challenge to fend off the yawns as the protagonist slowly moves around Europe and you wait for anything interesting to happen. A great ensemble cast is wasted in a movie that has no idea what to do with any of them.
Amon Warmann of Empire gives it slightly more credit, rating the movie 3 stars out of 5 and saying there are flashes of promise and that it hits all the expected beats. However, there’s nothing that elevates The Amateur past that baseline. This critic agrees with CinemaBlend’s assessment that the cast is underutilized, and none more than Jon Bernthal. In Warmann’s words:
While he can be overly stiff and one-note, Malek is convincing as an unlikely, easy-to-root-for hero stepping out of his comfort zone. The rest of the stacked supporting cast is a mixed bag. No-one here is more underutilised than Jon Bernthal; playing a field agent who’s fond of Charlie, you could remove all three of his scenes from the movie and it wouldn’t change a thing. Elsewhere, Fishburne is fitfully entertaining as Henderson, his blunt dynamic with Charlie soon turning into begrudging respect.
Jesse Hassenger of AV Club gives it a C+, admitting that there is some irresistible entertainment once things get going, but overall it feels like a watered-down movie that’s already been edited for your in-flight entertainment. Hassenger continues:
The Amateur maintains its baseline professionalism throughout. It also has the distance and hollowness of an echo, like it’s arriving with the built-in tinniness of an airplane screening and the network-TV sanitization cuts already made. In addition to sanding the edges off of past spy movies, The Amateur wants to be a tonier version of a revenge thriller like Taken, while lacking even the thickheaded dedication to blundering its way through international conflicts. It’s not that The Amateur explores moral gray areas; it just swirls generic and weirdly apolitical spy-movie elements around until all that’s left is a watery blur, accidentally paying faithful tribute to studio mediocrities past.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire also grades it a C+, saying the movie is neither fun nor dull, and while it takes itself too seriously, there is something inherently amusing about Rami Malek’s surprise at his character’s capacity for violence. The critic concludes:
An aggressively competent spy thriller that has less use for logic than its lead actor does for his smile, this globe-trotting Robert Littell adaptation would have us believe that no one is more dangerous than a math nerd who refuses to think of himself as a killer, and the film makes a compelling enough case to sustain itself across the entire television season’s worth of plot that it packs into two hours.
Not all of the critics found The Amateur to be quite so middling. IGN’s Eric Goldman gives it a “Good” 7 out of 10. Heller is easy to cheer for, Goldman says, especially since The Amateur doesn’t rush his transformation into a skilled killer and allows him to make some pretty major mistakes. All in all, it’s an entertaining spin on a spy story, the critic says, writing:
The Amateur feels like a welcome variation on the kind of ‘guy on the run’ espionage movies we got regularly back in the '90s. It mixes the throwback feel of an old-school spy story with an engaging scenario about a tech-savvy CIA analyst thrust into the field for decidedly dark reasons. The direction and a strong cast help sell this vibe and make for an entertaining time, even if it comes to a less-than-satisfying conclusion.
It seems like most of the critics are mostly ranking The Amateur in the middle of the pack when it comes to action thrillers, but we know from Rami Malek’s best movies and TV series how good he is at portraying different characters. If you’re down for this take of revenge, catch this one on the big screen starting Friday, April 11.
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