AMERICAN ASSASSIN
THE time for diplomacy is dead – and so are the terrorists who threaten western ideals – in Michael Cuesta’s testosteronefuelled action thriller.
Opening with a shooting at a Spanish resort, which is chillingly reminiscent of the 2015 Tunisian beach attack, American Assassin rampages across the globe, gleefully pulling the trigger on anyone who dares to desecrate a fluttering Stars And Stripes.
The titular sharpshooter is played with a grimace by boyishly handsome Dylan O’Brien, who channelled his real-life recovery from a serious accident on the set of a previous film into this role as a grief-stricken loner, transforming himself into a weapon of destruction to take down his fiancee’s murderers.
O’Brien’s innate likeability cuts through his character’s cold, mercenary exterior, and adds warmth to a propulsive picture that delights in spattering the brains of the enemy across the screen.
Oscar nominee Michael Keaton sinks his teeth into scenery for a feverish chew as the hero’s grizzled mentor, who has an endless supply of warmongering aphorisms.
“The enemy dresses like a deer and kills like a lion,” he riffs after one disastrous training exercise.
Now we know who killed Bambi’s mother.
Adapted from the novel by Vince Flynn, American Assassin doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a brute force battle of wits.
The Jason Bourne films provide a template for bone-crunching fight sequences and car chases and director Cuesta competently orchestrates each bombastic set-piece to cajole his picture into second gear.
The script repeatedly vaunts brawn over brains and the cast responds with muscular, snarling performances starved of emotion.