Jonpow Respectfully rendered adaptation of Martin Booth's meditation on the last days on ths job for a secretive enabler of hits, assassinations, etc. As much of the book is first person, it's hard to fault Clooney for failing at times to convey the full depth of the writer/protagonist's growing attachment to the Italian village, and possible normalcy, after a life of hiding and running. Alas, the ending was changed to suit someone, completely upending Booth's fine tale.

patrick powell Here I am again, again at odds with the great and the good, all of whom seem to think The American is a marvellous film, as do a great many reviewers here. There are, of course, those - 'that's two hours out of my life I'll never get back, dude' and '20 bucks well wasted' - who think the whole thing is boring rubbish, but I'm not with them, either.The problem is that Dutch director Anton Corbijn tries to do something quite specific and simply doesn't carry it off: he seems to think that long, moody scenes where nothing happens except good ole' George Clooney gazing into the middle distance equate with meaning. That's what happens in all the films he admires and attempts to emulate, right? Well, no it doesn't. Or rather, yes, it does, if you can carry it off. Some do, but Corbijn - to my mind at least - misses by a country mile. And as this very slow film shades from improbability to impossibility, it begins to lose whatever goodwill you might have felt when you were a little intrigued by the initial setup. To be frank, the final ten minutes see the whole enterprise inexplicably degenerate from would-be art-house fodder into pretty damn mediocre TV melodrama.For Corbijn's film to work, even if he insists upon cramming it full of pseudo-meaningful languid scenes - in fact to justify all those pseudo-meaningful languid scenes - he must at least do the groundwork, prepare us, the viewers, in such a way that we accept almost without question, for example, the love affair between the nameless American assassin from nowhere and the rather too gorgeous tart. How he goes about doing so, I don't know, but some directors do and pull off what would be a high-wire act. Corbijn does not.I didn't buy the assassin and the tart falling in love and I didn't buy the philosophical talk about sinners the assassin has with the local parish priest. It doesn't ring true and as it doesn't ring true, the film simply fails on the level at which it wants to succeed. Clooney's American is simply too mute to be capable of forming a relationship with the tart or a friendship with the priest.In his meetings with the priest he says so little, I was surprised the old codger invited him for supper. There is no reason whatsover why he should be in the slightest bit interested in this man from apparently nowhere. As for the tart, she, too, I'm sure would have enjoyed a little more chat. In my experience women rather like that sort of thing. Perhaps she knew she was in a moody would-be art-house film. You never know.OK, if you want a thriller, you get one, and if you want mystery, you sort of get one, but I wanted Corbijn to deliver on what he promises, and he just doesn't.There are several glaring instances of outright sloppiness: this all takes place in Italy, a country I know a little, but its Italians are curiously mute. Usually, they are hard to shut up. Then there's the curious lack of interest the local police show in the obvious murder of some guy or other (we're told it's 'one of the Swedes' - more rather spurious mystifying) after a car and Vespa chase. Word would surely have got around about the mysterious American who arrived a few weeks ago who claims to be a photographer but he doesn't take any pictures at all. And he would have been one of the first the local rozzers would have called upon.But there you go: Corbijn's would-be Euro drama has got some of the pieces, but even those slot into the wrong spot. He simply fails to carry off what he attempts. Sad, but true.

Jackson Booth-Millard All I know about this film, with a really simple title, was the leading actor, this was originally enough for me to watch it, I was looking forward to it more when I read the description. Basically gunsmith and contract killer Jack / Edward (George Clooney, also producing) has been hiding on a job in Dalarna, Sweden for some time, but it comes to end abruptly when he is ambushed, he kills two assassins hired to kill him, and with his identity in jeopardy he also kills his lover Ingrid (Irina Björklund). Jack travels to Rome, Italy, calls his contact Pavel (Johan Leysen), they meet in a cafeteria, he gives Jack a car and tells him to travel to the countryside, but he vows to his contact that his next assignment will be his last. Jack goes to the small town of Castelvecchio, where he poses a photographer, he meets a Belgian woman called Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) who delivers the specification of a sophisticated weapon to be constructed by him. While constructing the weapon he converses with local priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), and spends the occasional night with prostitute Clara (Violante Placido), Jack surprises himself forming a friendship with the religious man, and despite his distrustful nature pursuing a relationship with the woman outside of the brothel. Of course by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate, but he completes his mission, successfully constructing and testing the makeshift weapon, but with his announcement of retiring after the job Jack is betrayed, and he does not know who can be trusted. In the end Jack plans to meet with Clara, he is encountered by Pavel, he kills him, but realises he has been shot, Jack collapses meeting Clara at their picnic spot by the river, crashing into a tree, apparently he is dead. Also starring Filippo Timi as Fabio and Anna Foglietta as Anna. Clooney as the only big name star of the cast brings the right amount of charisma as well as grit to the central role, this is not your typical action film full of high octane moments, snappy dialogue and twisting plot, it is a simple psychological character study of a man with a deadly career who questions his way of life, realising the drawbacks, such as loneliness, it works well as a mystery also, but leaves room for the odd chase and gun shooting sequences, overall it is an interesting moody thriller. Worth watching!

whatithinkis While I don't disagree with any of the comments I'm reading here, yes, slow, yes scooter chase . . .There's a particular element I'd like to address. I think this film is a study in what it is like to be a hunter all one's life. To come to a point where NO one can be trusted. To be utterly alone. Then slowly to begin to trust and then ironically, just as one approaches his surrender to that trust, he sees that he is dying. Clooney's realization of his impending death in that last scene, his anger, his naked need at his last moment and then he dies . . . what a superb piece of work . . . wow.