Bloody fun
A wild action flick guns for guys
MOVIE REVIEW AMERICAN ASSASSIN Killer thriller. Running time: 111 minutes. Rated R (strong violence, some torture, language and brief nudity). Now playing.
MANY male moviegoers live and die by the Man Test, a measure of a film’s dudeliness that demands it feature three or more of the following elements: explosions, car chases, exotic locales, beautiful women and kickass fights.
Action thriller “American Assassin,” based on Vince Flynn’s novel, is a helluva high scorer.
Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien) is vacationing with his gorgeous new fiancée in Ibiza, Spain, when the idyllic spot is shot up by terrorists. He survives — his fiancée doesn’t. So Rapp becomes obsessed with revenge and attempts to infiltrate the offending terrorist cell by learning their ways. The US government catches onto his rogue antics, and they recruit him to a top-secret organization called Orion that “kills people who need to be killed.”
The group is led by an ex-Navy SEAL, Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton in peak lunatic form). Hurley’s mad exercises include one-onone fights, during which he maniacally shoots a gun into the air. Soon, Rapp is bounding around Europe and the Middle East, subduing the enemy by disobeying direct orders. It’s great fun.
The casting of O’Brien, known mostly for the “Teen Wolf” TV series, came out of left field but was a smart move. He’s young, hip and charmingly introverted. He also rocks the character’s intense, bloody, bruising bouts.
The violence is either exceptional or horrific, depending on your squeamishness. The initial shooting scene, in which terrorists use automatic weapons to lay waste to beach vacationers, taps into many travelers’ worst fears. Throughout the movie, throats are slit and people are shot with abandon. These offings feel real.
Illogically, what makes that gruesomeness and the movie work is the lousy script. The dialogue is riddled with eyerolling military clichés such as, “You’ll learn how to play with the big boys.” But that intermittent silliness makes it easier to stomach Keaton’s fingernails being pried off.