Directed by James Hawes, with a script by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, this film features a cast including Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitríona Balfe, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, and Laurence Fishburne. It runs for 124 minutes and has a rating of 2.

There's something amusing about a revenge thriller that hesitates to embrace its own vengeance. The Amateur, the newest film featuring the classic 'average guy becomes assassin' trope, stars Rami Malek as a CIA office worker with a heavy heart and surprisingly good travel skills. After his wife dies in a terrorist attack in London, he pleads with the CIA for weapons, training, and the green light to unleash his inner Liam Neeson. Naturally, they decline, but in a reluctant 'okay, but don't screw things up' kind of way. What follows should be an adrenaline-fueled revenge adventure... instead, we get Revenge: Lite — the no-calorie, decaf, morally-ambiguous version.

The idea had potential: a tech-savvy guy with no fighting skills going off the rails due to loss. Sounds cool! Imagine him stumbling through danger, using his coding skills and a bit of luck to outsmart the bad guys, maybe even catching us off guard. But instead of embracing the awkwardness of a guy who's more about spreadsheets than shootouts, the film plays it too safe. Rami Malek is a talented actor, but he doesn't quite come off as someone who'd struggle to keep up on a run, let alone in a shootout. He seems too clever and too much like a spy already to pull off the rookie feel. And while he does frown dramatically, his shift from tech whiz to revenge seeker feels more like a simple outfit change than a real character development.

Director James Hawes, known for his solid work in British TV, gives the film a polished look, but it lacks the chaos that this story really craved. You find yourself waiting for something exciting to happen — a crazy scene, a heartfelt breakdown, or a shocking twist — but the movie just plays it safe and misses every chance to catch you off guard. Even Laurence Fishburne, who plays the tough trainer, is underutilized. The guy who once handed Neo the red pill hardly gets a chance to show us what he's capable of. He feels more like a motivational speaker than a fierce mentor.

Then there's the revenge part. Or, as the movie shows it: a confusing mix of locations (Madrid! Istanbul! Who knows!) where the main character seems to teleport instead of actually traveling. The 'targets' are forgettable. The reasons behind it all get murky. By the time he faces off with the last guy, it feels less like a big showdown and more like an uncomfortable networking event that went sideways. 'Hey, uh, remember that time you might have blown up my wife?' and then we get a totally unsatisfying emotional wrap-up.

The Amateur isn't terrible, but it doesn't really make an effort to be anything special either. It's like a movie that just shrugs its shoulders — not a daring flop, just a hesitant and overly complicated take on a solid idea. It aims to be the intellectual's version of Bourne, but instead, it feels more like it should be paired with a Sudoku puzzle and some herbal tea. If revenge is best served cold, this one is already frozen, sealed in plastic, and past its sell-by date.

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