This movie didn’t really appear on my radar when it opened in the US in September 2010. It was after all a small film with a Big American Star with an unknown, but pretty cast, with unpronounceable names. However I had one of those ‘Kevin Bacon 6 Degrees’ moments on the plane yesterday and suddenly was intrigued to watch it. The screenplay was by Rowan Joffee, who directed and wrote ‘Brighton Rock’ which I so enjoyed in London last week. ‘Brighton Rock’ starred Sam Riley who had given his breakout performance in ‘Control’ the movie based on The Joy Division which Anton Corbijn directed. Mr Corbijn also directed ‘The American’. And there we have it.
Beautifully shot on location in the very picturesque Italian countryside, this is one of those thrillers where everybody chases each other in cars and carries a gun and shoots strangers dead before they even chat to them which kind of makes it tougher to work out who’s a goodie and who’s a baddie , but more importantly, what the frigging plot is actually about. George Clooney seems to just sail though it being George Clooney, and as always being distracted by a pretty girl, and the only difference being that in this movie he orders his daily espresso in Italian (complete with a bad accent).
It’s intense and tricky, and maybe a tad too clever for it’s own good.
★★★★★★
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