Brief Story Line
Charlie Heller (Rami Malek - Amsterdam, Bohemian Rhapsody etc) was a brilliant decoder for the CIA and was living happily with his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan - Spies in Disguise, House of Cards TV series etc). But when he received devastating news from his boss Deputy Director Moore (Holt McCallany - Nightmare Alley, Mindhunter TV series etc), Charlie insisted the CIA to help him resolve it. Despite his repeated requests, the CIA did not really assist Charlie which made him took matter into his own hands.
After being trained in field work by Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne - Transformers One, All the Old Knives etc), Charlie set his mind on killing the four people responsible for the thing that ruined his life. He went all the way across Europe to fulfill his mission.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
To be honest, I was not aware of what this movie would be like cause I never saw its trailer, but its very brief synopsis and the action thriller genre did make me intrigued. My wife never read its information so she saw this with blank knowledge. However she somehow was able to guess the main plot. For me before the incident happened, the movie felt a bit like drama. In fact we both actually thought this looked like drama thriller instead of action thriller. So it was a good thing that there really was some interesting action involved, even though the drama was still strongly felt.
The great thing about this movie to me was actually the illustration of the lead character Charlie Heller, the genius data analyst. I was amazed by how convincing Rami Malek's portrayal of him that we truly believed he was a rather introvert man who never did anything beyond his comfort zone. The way he was so anxious when doing something dangerous was really believable from the sound of his heavy breaths or even throwing up. And it did not surprise me that critics were impressed with his acting, though other aspects were not that well received.
The movie moved in a steady pace which was OK for me cause it never got to the point of very slow that bored me and my wife. The character development of Charlie Heller was wonderful to see and his method of doing his personal missions also amazed us, especially the second one that made my wife in awe. I thought the director James Hawes did a decent job in here which was quite commendable considering he was more experienced in British TV dramas like Mr. Who or the biopic Enid that earned him few awards. I noticed during the opening credit that the film was adapted from novel of the same title by Robert Littel. From what I read, there was a Canadian adaptation of this 1981 novel which received some awards & nominations.
Aside from Rami Malek and the people I mentioned above, there were plenty of other cast. The notable ones were Jon Bernthal (Those Who Wish Me Dead The Accountantetc) as CIA field agent code name Bear, Julianne Nicholson (Blonde, The Outsider TV series etc) as CIA Director O'Brien, Danny Sapani (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Penny Dreadful etc) as CIA Deputy Director Caleb, Caitriona Balfe (Ford v Ferrari, Escape Plan etc) as the person who helped Charlie a lot, Michael Stuhlbarg (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness etc) as the guy Charlie chased and few others. According to info about this movie, there was a character of Professor portrayed by Takehiro Hira (Shogun TV series etc) which confused us cause we did not see him at all. I guessed his scene was deleted. I also felt Jon Bernthal's character was under utilized (in fact, I thought there was no need for him at all). The movie had duration of 2 hours 3 minutes which was sufficient to cover the story. It did not have mid or post end credit scene so you could leave for rest room in case you have been holding. The movie's ending for me personally was not too satisfying, although I could understand why it was done in such a way.
Overall we actually enjoyed this movie. The protagonist was unconventional hero who started off as a normal person but his development was interesting to see. The action was efficiently done using practical effects without CGI. One thing to note though that since Charlie was not a skillful martial artist or shooter, so it would not have the heavy explosive action scenes. The movie's tone was rather dark and aside from one very brief dry comment by Charlie on his shooting skill, everything was pretty serious. So if you are interested in watching a very amateur spy on personal mission in a rather heavy action thriller, then you would likely enjoy it like me and my wife. But if your preference is the full action with many gadgets kind of spy, then this might not be to your liking. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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