AMERICAN ASSASSIN – A Review by Hollywood Hernandez
American Assassin is an action/thriller filled with espionage, intrigue and plenty of action. Dylan O'Brien (The Maze Runner and MTV's Teen Wolf) plays C.I.A. trainee Mitch Rapp. You'll be amazed at the transformation of O'Brien as he buffs up to play the stone cold killer in American Assassin. The movie is based on the bestselling novels of Vince Flynn and directed by Michael Cuesta, who also directs the TV series Homeland.
O'Brien's character, Mitch Rapp, becomes a lone wolf who is obsessed with revenge after terrorists kill his girlfriend while they are on vacation on a small island in the Mediterranean. He trains for a year in MMA and with weapons. He is so ruthless that he is kicked out of both his martial arts class and his weapons training class. His plans are to pose as an American who is sympathetic to the cause of Isis so he can get near enough to kill members of their terrorist cells.
While he's making his plans he also being watched by the C.I.A. and they extract him from his first mission in Libya and offer him a chance to be a part of a super secret and elite black ops team. Sanaa Lathan plays Irene Kennedy, a C.I.A. Deputy Director who is in charge of the black ops team and Michael Keaton (who looks fantastic at age 66) is a former Navy Seal who's in charge of training the team. As an ensemble the actors make for a very entertaining movie.
Keaton and his team travel all over the world to stop a terrorist plot between Russia and Iran to build a nuclear weapon. On the mission the team discovers a former black ops team member, only known as "Ghost" who is now a mercenary and is brokering the deal between the two countries. "Ghost", played by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) is a former protégée of Keaton who's now seeking revenge against his former mentor and against The United States, a country who he feels betrayed him.
While the cast is strong, it's O'Brien who carries the movie. He's on par with any former actor who's played James Bond except, unlike the Bond characters; he doesn't play his part with any humor or sarcasm. He plays it full out serious. He's a man obsessed with violence and killing, which makes for a very bloody, intense and entertaining movie.
American Assassin is rated a very strong "R" for violence and it has a run time of 1 hour and 51 minutes. It will keep you enthralled and on the edge of your seat from start to finish. On my "Hollywood Popcorn Scale" I rate American Assassin a JUMBO.
