The American

I'll just come right out and say it. This is a difficult film to review. Not a complaint, just the truth. It's a quiet, intentionally slow-paced, character driven thriller. There aren't many of those, at least not after the 1970s and while some will find it absolutely absorbing others will complain about it being "like really boring, yo." This is one of those cases where I hear the valid arguments on both sides.
Jack or Edward (we don't know his real name but he's played by George Clooney) is a master craftsman with the construction and use of any and all types of gun. His life as an assassin has made him exceedingly paranoid and he is of the kill first, ask questions later mindset. With the life wearing him down he is sent on a mission to Rome, where he's told he "won't even have to pull the trigger." This actually does little to make him feel better. He does want to find a sense of peace for himself however, and strives towards it by forming a friendship with a priest (Paolo Bonacelli) and by entering into a relationship with local prostitute Carla (Violante Placido).
Jack/Edward's inability to trust anyone makes what would be peaceful moments all the more intense. The job, which is to provide a weapon and ammunition for younger assassin Mathilde (Thekla Reuten, "In Bruges") is simple for him. He knows what he's doing and his hands are well versed in every step of the process. It's his spirit that is failing him, he knows it, and he wants out as soon as this job is over. He just isn't sure that it's not already too late.
Written by Rowan Joffe and directed by Anton Corbijn ("Control"), "The American" is a beautifully shot, very well-made movie that is maddening for almost half of its running time. The early part of the film contains several scenes that come one after another with seemingly no connection to one another. One moment he's assembling a gun, the next he's in a brothel, and it's as though we're just seeing his daily routine.
While I certainly don't need or want a movie to show me exactly where it's going from the very beginning, there should be a sense that it is actually going somewhere. It's not the slow pace that's the problem, it's the thought that what I'm seeing is just meant to build atmosphere when this movie has more than enough already. Eventually the seemingly disparate elements do come together but it takes far too long to feel that the movie is gelling. It makes "The American" difficult to get into and by the time I really did it was well past the halfway point. A second viewing might reveal a great or near great movie and as it is it's good, but I can't say by any stretch that I loved or even liked it that much.
Clooney gives the sort of performance we've become accustomed to, which isn't a bad thing. He plays Jack/Edward with the suitable sense of paranoia that makes a picnic a terrifying experience. Bonacelli and Placido are quite good as well, Bonacelli even providing some much needed levity.
If you can watch "The American" trusting that everything you're seeing actually will come together to form something (and it does) and you don't mind a generally slow paced movie with brief spurts of action, then this is worth checking out. Anyone with an interest in photography should see it simply for the work of cinematographer Martin Ruhe, which is breathtaking. 7/10.