Wednesday, 19 December 2012

DVD review: The American


A professional killer hides out in a tiny Italian Village.

The critics all loved it; it sits on top of many top ten movies of the year lists. I think you can already guess where this is going the end…
I rarely watched a more boring movie in my life. I’m not starting from the position where if there is not an explosion every 10 minutes I fall asleep. I actually enjoy more cerebral fares, but still I actually need something to be happening and somebody to relate to.
Everybody lauded the “restrained” acting by George Clooney. Now I got where they got the ideas, I understand the subtle pleasures of all the tiny signs. The revealing gestures, where the gaze goes and all that related stuff but still it all should lead to something, to somewhere. And moreover the really great restrained performances are not the impenetrable ones, are those where you can actually glimpse behind the face, those where the eyes actually tell a story.
The overall impression is of a long extended vacation. A very American view of Italian life. Yes they inserted some killing shenanigans pretending to be more “realistic” than the normal Hollywood fare even if in the end they just invented a different kind of fake “professional killer” job.
Conclusion: A pretentious movie by a pretentious director, to avoid at all costs.

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