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| Courtesy of CBS Films |
That worked for Fox’s terrorism thriller 24 because it premiered less than a month after 9/11, when grieving, blindsided Americans were looking for a target – however misguided – for their anger. However, the country has changed a great deal in the 16 years since Kiefer Sutherland’s iconic antihero burst onto television screens and convinced millions of bloodthirsty viewers that torture isn’t a war crime.
Don’t get me wrong, recent sociopolitical developments prove there are still plenty of xenophobes in our society whose idea of complex foreign policy is “Git-R-Done.” However, far more of us have learned what the consequences of “bomb first, ask questions later” entail. It means brave Americans dying in a war that – if it were a person – is now old enough to drive. It means men and women retiring from military service and watching their own children take their place in a conflict that started when they were toddlers.
But American Assassin (not to be confused with American Made, the Tom Cruise drug-runner drama that opens later this month) can’t be bothered with complex moral issues. Not when there are foreigners to shoot in the face. What country are they from again? Ah, it doesn’t matter. They’re all the same anyway, right?
Dylan O’Brien (one of those bland, interchangeably handsome actors you find in teen dramas cranked out by the CW, MTV and Freeform) plays Mitch Rapp, a self-trained vigilante who decides to become a one-man war on terror after gunmen leave him for dead and murder his fiancée (Charlotte Vega) on their exotic beach getaway. Oh, a bunch of other anonymous tourists are graphically killed too. But, as the somber music tells us, it’s much sadder when a hot blonde girl dies.
Rapp’s exploits, namely infiltrating a terror cell and almost getting himself killed, attract the attention of CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan), who recruits him for a black ops division led by legendary trainer Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton, the only redeemable quality saving this film from a D). Somehow, despite proving himself to be a hothead who ignores every order he’s given, Rapp is picked by Hurley to accompany him on a mission to investigate a series of murders and track down stolen nuclear materials.
This is where the screenplay (credited to a hodgepodge of writers including Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz) tries to brush off its cultural insensitivity – much like 24 did in its early seasons – by making its Muslim baddies a red herring for the true villain. That would be a bitter American mercenary, and former protégé of Hurley, who goes by the moniker Ghost (Taylor Kitsch, long past his Friday Night Lights zenith). He doesn’t care who gets the nuke, as long as he gets paid.
However, this plot “twist” (does it count as a twist if the trailers give it away?) doesn’t fix the film’s many problems with its non-American characters, particularly a mysterious - and, of course, gorgeous - Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) tasked with assisting Rapp in the field. Without getting into spoiler territory, the conclusion to her arc left me shaking my head in disbelief, as did the other characters’ reaction to it.
One of the other reasons 24 worked where American Assassin fails (not to keep harping on an old TV show, but the movie so clearly wants to emulate it) is because – say what you will about Jack Bauer’s methods and principles – Kiefer Sutherland was charismatic enough to make viewers root for his character even if they despised what he stood for. O’Brien doesn’t have that commanding presence. And that’s me putting it nicely.
Viewers are supposed to think he’s some unstoppable, Jack Reacher-style badass, but he looks like he can’t even hold his own in a barfight. How is an actor like that supposed to go toe-to-toe with a powerhouse like Keaton? That’s easy – he can’t. Even in scenes where Rapp supposedly has the upper hand or moral high ground, it feels like Keaton is simply letting O’Brien have the win because the script calls for it.
What’s worse, the action scenes – the one element moviegoers are buying a ticket for – are shoddily directed by Michael Cuesta, whose credits are mostly television shows. Honestly, that makes sense considering American Assassin feels like a gritty pilot for a series that would air on Cinemax or Showtime.
Judging from the way the movie ends, Lionsgate and CBS Films are clearly hoping this is the start of a lucrative franchise for them. I wouldn’t hold my breath. If they have any shot at a future with Mitch Rapp, they’ve got to recast the character and justify his relevance in our current climate.
American Assassin is rated R for strong violence throughout, some torture, language and brief nudity.
Grade: C-
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