A KillerBy John DeSando, "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
I enjoyed half of The American, a thriller starring George Clooney as Jack/Edward, a primo assassin pulling his last assignment in Italy. The latter part is full of logical holes and clich?s so as to compromise the above average grade I would have awarded the first part.
Like other recent Clooney characters such as Michael Clayton and Ryan Bingham (Up in the Air), he's an outsider who fixes things alone, be he a lawyer, corporate terminator, or assassin. He's hardly alone in the opening Swedish scene, where three bodies, all his work, eventually soil the pristine snowscape. So much for purity.
The character takes shape, however, as a man reaching the limits of his profession, which demands he not form relationships. He is doing just that with a comely lass in Sweden and again with a hooker in Italy. His "contact" by phone is not happy with this vulnerability, telling Jack he has "lost (his) edge."
Director Anton Corbijn effectively stages the shots in the small towns of Italy to convey Jack's loneliness?there are barely any other pedestrians when he goes public, a situation requiring the audience to have a bit of belief suspension but understandable in a figurative sense. It's the minimalism where the director has strength, a strategy that allows us to be with Jack in almost every shot, just as we were with another Jack, Nicholson to be exact, in Chinatown.
The exposition in the first half is pleasantly restrained, as opposed to the almost Baroque pace of the Bourne series. The detail of Jack's creating an assault rifle with close ups of his hands caressing each part, similar to his Up in the Air assembling travel bags, is good cinema.
When he finally hooks up with a hooker, the story turns ludicrous for its clich?d "heart of gold" motif and Jacks sloppiness, completely out of character, no matter his retirement.
John DeSando co-hosts It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee for WCBE 90.5. The shows can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com