“The Amateur” a Familiar, Yet Still Intriguing Spy Thriller
- Matt Palmer
- Jan 2
- 3 min read
“The Amateur” is based on the 1981 novel by author Robert Littell, which was previously adapted into a 1981 Canadian film. The movie, distributed by 20th Century Studios, was initially released on April 11, 2025 and was met with initial mixed reviews.
Charlie Heller is a brilliant, but deeply introverted decoder for the CIA working out of the basement office at headquarters in Langley whose life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a London terror attack.
When his supervisors refuse to take action, he takes matters into his own hands, embarking on a dangerous trek across the globe to track down those responsible, his intelligence serving as the ultimate weapon for eluding his pursuers and achieving his revenge.
I generally enjoy espionage/spy thrillers and this 2025 movie has been on my radar since I started seeing the trailers earlier this year. Now, while “The Amateur” isn’t nearly as action-packed as other films in the spy-thriller subgenre, it’s still worth a look!
“The Amateur” is a solid, entertaining spy flick that delivers some fairly suspenseful moments, despite a familiar-sounding plot. This 2025 movie actually reminds me of the spy thrillers from the early 2000s, like the “Bourne” series, that have a more grounded feel.
One aspect of the movie that I really enjoyed was seeing the main protagonist (Charlie Heller) using intelligence, technology and physics to outwit enemies rather than relying on standard gunfights. There’s a sequence that features a glass-bottomed hotel pool where Heller is interrogating a target and ends up destroying the pool and the target. Even though this part did end up getting spoiled in the trailers, it’s still a truly stand out moment.
The movie’s overall story can feel a little generic and familiar, yet Rami Malek’s performance really helps carry the movie, especially when his portrayal is rather tense.
Malek’s portrayal of intense grief and desperation can be quite moving and actually keeps you invested in his revenge mission. There’s also some really intriguing twists and turns that also help keep this familiar plot engaging.
Even though the movie is rather engaging and intriguing, there are a few moments throughout that can drag a bit, especially in the middle. The movie’s talented supporting cast of Laurence Fishburne and Jon Bernthal were great in their roles, but they had less screen time than I thought they would have.
Overall, while “The Amateur” has a retro spy feel, a great performance from Rami Malek and an intriguing premise in its “geek turned hunter” concept, the formulaic overall plot and underdeveloped supporting characters can get in the way at times.
Cast: Rami Malek (Heller); Rachel Brosnahan (Sarah); Jon Bernthal (The Bear); Laurence Fishburne (Henderson); Evan Milton (Slater); Nick Mills (Finn); Tiffany Gray (Esther); Adrian Martinez (Carlos); Michael Stuhlbarg (Schiller); Holt McCallany (Director Moore); Julianne Nicholson (Director O’Brien).
Writer/director: Ken Nolan (writer) (Only the Brave; Transformers: The Last Knight; Black Hawk Dawn); Gary Spinelli (writer) (American Made); James Hawes (director) (One Life; some episodes of Apple TV’s Slow Horses)
MPA: Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, and language (runtime 122 minutes)
“The Amateur” can currently be streamed on Hulu/Disney Plus.
Make sure to keep on checking my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page on Facebook to see what I will be checking out and you can also find some fun trivia bits about the films that I check out!
The film's source novelist is Robert Littell who has been a journalist and novelist who specializes in espionage novels that frequently are set around the spy world of the CIA and the former Soviet Union. He wrote the screenplay for the original movie of 'The Amateur' then wrote the novel of the same name afterwards. The book has a slightly different title, it being "The Amateur: A Novel of Revenge (1981)". The original 'Amateur' movie was his first film & TV credit.
This picture's development of a remake of its source 1981 spy movie of the same name was first announced in 2006. Actor Hugh Jackman was attached to star in the title role with his production company Seed Productions producing and Evan Katz writing the script. In this new updated version, Cold War Eastern Bloc types in the novel were to be replaced by post-9/11 terrorists. This iteration's synopsis was, according to 'Movie Insider', ''Hugh Jackman will play a CIA cryptographer whose fiancee is killed in a suspicious plane crash. When he discovers that the plane was brought down by terrorists, he finds the leverage that forces his bosses to train him to exact revenge.''
The casting of Rami Malek in the lead role was influenced by the actor having played the Bond villain (Safin) in the last 007 film 'No Time to Die' (2021)
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