144.
American Assassin
7.5/10
The kid from Maze Runner is all
grown up and looking to kick some ass as an American Assassin. With a trainer
that used to be Batman, in the form of Michael Keaton, this has the potential
to be a decent action film of sorts. The trailer revealed a pretty gritty
storyline and a rough around the edges youngster, getting put through his
paces. The film itself, it based on a novel and is one of a series, with a hope
that this could become along the lines of a new Bourne franchise. It's the 11th
book, but the first if put in chronological order. Is this one going to be
worth taking a bullet for?
The film begins with a young
couple getting engaged on a beach, whilst on holiday, only for Islamic
Terrorists to start some gun fire and pretty much end the lives of everyone
there. The was a very intense scene, down to the fact of it not being long ago
that events like these happened in a holiday destination of Tunisia. Amid the carnage,
Mitch Rapp, tries to make it back from the bar to find his new fiancé, only for
her to die meters away from him. Months later and we can see that he is a
changed man. Beard and hair fully grown, punch bag and throwing knifes in full
use, getting in trouble at his local gym for not letting a fighter go after he
had tapped out, this guy is clearly consumed by revenge. He is on terrorist
website, looking to join them, but clearly with the intention of killing the
man who is responsible for killing his fiancé. The chat room leader asks him
questions about being a Jihad and all are answered quickly, before he is
invited to meet the leaders and take out his vengeance. Once face to face with
the man, the cell is ambushed by U.S. Special Forces that we have already see
keeping an eye on Mitch through hidden cameras in his place. Upset that he
never got his revenge, he stabs the leader repeatedly, although is already
dead. Taken to a CIA safe house, he is debriefed for 30 days before the real
storyline begins. We've had the reasons behind his actions, now it's time to
get invited onto a special, black operations unit called Orion.
During his training, we see the
usual conflict between our main character, and another guy in training, who
clearly fells that this kid shouldn't be there. Predictability steps in, when
Mitch passes with flying colours and soon the team will be deployed. The enemy
set-up is created as an American is after some stolen nuclear material for an
Iranian faction. This seller, 'Ghost', is in Poland and ends up intercepting a
third party, shooting them and stealing the plutonium and disappearing into the
crowd. Once the new report comes through, Hurley notices the 'Ghost' as someone
that he trained personally. Thinking this guy was killed in action. Hurley's
team is sent to Turkey to stop the sell on of the equipment to the Iranians who
are not happy with thy deal that the President of Iran is making with the US
regarding the nuclear deal. When the team arrive in Istanbul, they are greeted
with a female agent and instantly you think, either Mitch is going to get with
her, or she is going to betray them. It's simply the way these movies go and so
far, this hasn't been an exception. The attempt to intercept the trigger device
deal, but instead, the 'Ghost' knows what is going on, shoots the asshole Orion
recruit and everything fails. Mitch doesn't follow orders and tracks down the
buyer. Fighting ensues with some decent scenes and quick camera work. With guns
and hand to hand combat, your soon enjoying the action a lot more. Mitch leaves
no one alive, takes the laptop back to the safe house and is soon in the firing
line with the boss. At the same time, he's helped them out a lot with the
information gathered and they are led to a hotel where a nuclear physicist is
in hiding, between helping 'Ghost' build the nuclear device. The team come into
trouble when they try to capture him and themselves, are captured, until Hurley
bursts in and kicks some ass, saving the crew. 'Ghost' sees his old mentor and
quickly flees, jumping out of the window and out of sight. Back at the safe
house, getting patched up, Mitch and the female agent, Annika are having a
conversation and she lets slip some information that she shouldn't know and is
soon set upon by Mitch, who questions her about being an enemy spy. She claims
that she is working for other Iranians, a faction that is trying to stop the
main enemies. As he has her arrested, Hurley is off to meet his own contact
from within the Iranians, but all doesn't go to plan as 'Ghost' knows his plans
and kills the informant and kidnaps Hurley.
After learning this, Mitch takes
it upon himself to get his trainer back. He knows no one will help, but has now
began to believe Annika and sets out to get her back as she is being transferred
by car. He smashes into her car, with one he has stolen, knocks out the guards
and uses her find the headquarters in which the nuke is being built. Inside the
building, Hurley is being tortured by 'Ghost'. He receives nothing but laughter
back, as Hurley tries telling the workers that they will be killed once the
nuke is finished. Obviously, this turns out to be true within a few seconds and
even the leaders of the Iranians are shot. 'Ghost' escapes with the nuke, just
as Mitch arrives and frees a badly injured Hurley. Annika runs after 'Ghost'
due to the fact that he earlier shot the informant, who turns out if her uncle
and the person she was undercover for. Once Mitch catches up with them, she
turns the gun on herself after she is caught by 'Ghost', so that she cannot use
her as a hostage. I didn't see that ending coming for her. The 'Ghost' has
headed out to a boat with a nuke and is heading out to sea. Hurley has worked
out that the main plan is to kamikaze attack a Navy fleet out at sea, after
thinking that America has failed him. The fleet are told about the plan and
need to make the right move. They plan on blowing him apart and taking the full
blunt of it. What they don't know it that Mitch has made it onto the small boat
too. He's in a fight scene below deck with 'Ghost' and ends up killing him,
moving onto securing the nuke. His only option is to take the boat out to see
and with all the satellites focused on the boat. Hurley notices who's driving.
He requests a helicopter out to Mitch, in order to try and save him. Mitch is
turning the boat about from the fleet and then is directed, through the radio,
to toss it overboard. He's grabbed from the boat and as the bomb goes off, it
creates a massive sink hole, leading to a tsunami and turbulence in the air.
Everyone seems to survive and as expected, the day is saved.
The film ends with Hurley
recovering from everything and explain to the CIA that Mitch Rapp is on
vacation in Dubai. In the background, it a news report explaining that the
Iranian faction, that ultimately failed in this nuclear bomb plan, will end up
winning the election for President of Iran anyway. In Dubai, the candidates for
the faction enter an elevator and Mitch is already standing at the back,
smiling at them as then enter and the doors close, along with the camera going
black, as we are made to assume that he is going to carry out a killing before
the doors open back up.I'm not too sure if this is my downfall or not, but this film was very predictable. For once, it would be a breath of fresh air, simply for things not to go to plan and the enemies win. I know this will never happen, but at least it will be an ending that people will never expect. Instead we have an ending that will leave us nothing but a feeling of being satisfied after watching this storyline. With some pretty decent fight scenes at times and an ending that contained a great CGI moment once the bomb exploded, it will be interesting to see if they make this into a series of movies. The main character, along with his mentor, are full of seriousness, just like Bourne rather than the sarcasm and wit of Bond. The plot wasn't too fresh though but this can be seen as a decent start to a new, action packed franchise.
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