American Assassin (2017)
Even though his filmography isn't much right now, I really do see a lot in Dylan O'Brien. A likable and normal guy who has a lot of charm in roles. His biggest role was in the TV department in the show Teen Wolf and in the film department, he's made good money off the Maze Runner series. These are roles that work for him now but these are only 'teen roles' and he could be finding something better because he has more talent than what he's putting himself in. His newest lead role is in the CIA film The American Assassin. Something that much different from what he use to it and step into more adult roles but's its a mess of a film.
Based off a best-selling novel, Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) girlfriend Katrina (Charlotte Vega) is shot dead in a terrorist attack, Rapp forms a grudge and a year later finds himself in the CIA to get his revenge. In charge of him is rough and tough Stan Hurley (Micheal Keaton) who's known for his Cold War days. While fighting crime, both find a guy named Ghost (Taylor Kitsch) who wants to start a war in the Middle East and who might have a nuclear bomb (yes, really) along the way. A plot that can be edgy material surprisingly that deals with political and all the issues dealing with the middle east.
The best character in this is no doubt is the original Mitch Rapp played by the talented O'Brien. A daring character that can be really radical at times and really a lot to build off of him. Alongside him most the of way is Stand. Like O'Brien, Keaton brings his own sense of craziness and radicalness to his character. Still, for a character meant to be tough, he never seems as much. Just your typical likable Keaton role. Struggling as a villain is Taylor Kitsch. Kitsch performance is stiff, a character that's undeveloped with a typical backstory and takes so long for the audience to figure who he is because he shows up when he wants to. Even more of a struggle in the character department is the film doesn't have a supporting character or at least somebody in the middle. You have CIA Director Irene (Sanaa Lathan) who's a character you feel like you've see in every action film before who's more times watching the action in the CIA office or a safe house. You have an attractive foreign girl in Annika (Shiva Negar) who is involved in the mission of Ghost and plays a big role in the film third act but you truly never know if you are meant to root for her or not.
As for the plot, nothing stands out. It's the same action we've seen before. Per usual, we are somewhere in the exotic Turkey or Rome in fancy high-rises doing unrealistic action scenes. The third act stands out because of the ridiculousness nuclear bomb idea that's just too much to take along with bad CGI to said scenes. People are just going to watch a nuclear bomb with literally no deaths shown and not much damage done. Please........
Once said it said and done, it's a typical nonsense action film. We have seen this material way too many times to count. Sadly, this had so much better potential than something like Olympus Has Fallen/London Has Fallen or the Taken series. If this was done right, I could see myself getting beyond this as a series mainly because of the O'Brien character and because Keaton is just so fun but the film's issues are too much to get over. Please, somebody, send help to the action genre because I'm getting sick of the same material.
