Playing Catch-Up With The Films of 2017: American Assassin (dir by Michael Cuesta)

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Probably the best thing about American Assassin is how simple it is.

The film opens on the beach, with Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien) asking his girlfriend to marry him. No sooner has she accepted than suddenly, terrorists are washing up on the beach and, in a genuinely frightening scene, shooting everyone that they see. Mitch is wounded. His girlfriend is killed.

Mitch seeks revenge against the man who killed his “future wife” (to borrow a phrase from The Room) but U.S. Special Forces kill the terrorist seconds before Mitch gets the chance. However, the CIA is so impressed, by Mitch’s single-minded and obsessive desire for revenge, that they recruit him to join Orion, a black ops unit. Under the guidance of grizzled veteran, Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton), Mitch becomes an American assassin. His first mission? To stop a renegade mercenary known as the Ghost (Taylor Kitsch).

In many ways, American Assassin feels like a throwback to the action films of the early aughts. There’s none of the moral ambiguity of the Bourne films and Mitch Rapp never indulges in any of the self-loathing that’s marred the Daniel Craig James Bond films. Remember how Bond got drunk and tried to interrogate that rat in SPECTRE? Judging from American Assassin, that’s something Mitch Rapp would never do. And, if he ever did, Stan Hurley would probably tell him to stop whining and get back to work.

In American Assassin, the bad guys are undoubtedly the bad guys and the good guys are undoubtedly the good guys and, while that may not be the approach that leads to Academy Awards and overwhelming critical acclaim, it still makes for an undeniably entertaining movie. Director Michael Cuesta does a good job with the action scenes and he gets good performances from the entire cast. Taylor Kitsch is far more compelling as a villain than he ever was in any of his heroic roles and, not surprisingly, Michael Keaton steals the whole show as the tough but caring Stan Hurley. Michael Keaton is definitely one of the best actors working today. He can slide seamlessly from a prestige drama like Spotlight to an action film like American Assassin to a comic book film like Spider-Man: Homecoming and he can do it without missing a beat. Those are three very different films and Keaton was the best thing in all of them.

And, finally, we have Dylan O’Brien. Last year, as we all know, O’Brien was seriously injured while filming the third Maze Runner film. At the time, it was announced that O’Brien’s injuries were “substantial but not life threatening” but I know there was a feeling that his career might be over. Even though American Assassin was not his first film since getting injured, it was his first starring role and I have to admit that it was good to see O’Brien back and looking good. O’Brien brought a lot of gravity to the role of Mitch Rapp. He had the haunted look of a man obsessed with revenge. When I saw O’Brien in The Maze Runner and, before that, in Teen Wolf, I thought he was a pleasant young actor but, in American Assassin, he gives his most mature performance to date. With American Assassin, Dylan O’Brien grows up.

As I said, American Assassin is a simple film. There’s not much going on beneath the surface and it you’re looking for anything deeper than pure entertainment, you might want to look elsewhere. American Assassin is what it is and makes no apologies. What it does, it does well.

Trailer – American Assassin

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Leonard Wilson

On the set of the third Maze Runner film, actor Dylan O’Brien had a major motorcycle accident that put him away for some time. It was serious enough that the film was halted indefinitely until he could return. I’m happy to say that after a six month recuperation and some TV time on Teen Wolf, he’s back in film action in American Assassin. The film has O’Brien playing Mitch Rapp, who eventually becomes an assassin and takes on the leader of a sleeper cell, played by Michael Keaton. Sanaa Lathan and Taylor Kitsch also star in the film. I may also give the books a try, which are recommended.

Film Review: The Maze Runner (dir by Wes Ball)

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi there and greetings from beautiful Lake Texoma. Having recently completed both 3 months of covering Big Brother for the Big Brother Blog and my series of Back to School reviews for this site, I am currently on a much-needed vacation with my wonderful boyfriend. However, you all know that I would never let a little thing like being on vacation keep me from watching and then reviewing whatever is currently playing down at the closest available theater.

For instance, last night, we saw The Maze Runner at the Cinemark 14 in Denton, Texas. The Cinemark is a really nice theater. The seats are comfortable. The people working there were nice and polite. The movie sounded great. Even the audience was surprisingly polite. Only a few people came in late and, for the most part, everyone refrained from talking during the film. Good for them and good for you, Cinemark 14!

As for the movie itself…

The Maze Runner tells the story of Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), a teenager who wakes up one day in a grassy clearing that is encircled by gigantic, gray walls. Thomas finds himself surrounded by several other teenage boys. Unable to remember anything about his past (but haunted by chaotic dreams that suggest that he is the part of some sort of lab experiment), Thomas initially reacts by trying to run. However, he is quickly tackled and introduced to his new home.

The grassy area is known as the Glade and the boys who live there are known as Gladers. Their leader is Alby (Aml Ameen) and, as he quickly explains to Thomas, he has created a tediously collectivist society where everyone has his assigned place and his assigned duty. (And yes, that is the correct pronoun. There are no girls among the Gladers.) Alby explains that, behind the walls, there lies a maze that is patrolled by terrifying creatures known as Grievers. The most athletic and intelligent of the Gladers are allowed to become Runners. Everyday, the Runners run through the maze and memorize every twist and turn.

Thomas, needless to say, wants to be a runner. And it’s good that he does because otherwise, the film would be kind of boring.

Anyway, along the way to becoming a runner, Thomas has more visions of an autocratic woman (Patricia Clarkson) and he also manages to make an enemy out of Gally (Will Poulter), a Glader who never wants to leave Glade. Eventually, a girl named Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) shows up, along with a note saying that she’s the last one and no one else will be showing up in the Glade.

Now, at this point, you may be tempted to ask, “What’s going on?”

Well, you’ll have to wait a few years to find out because The Maze Runner is just part one of a trilogy. Much like The Hobbit, Divergent, and The Hunger Games, it answers just enough questions to keep the audience satisfied while still ending with a cliffhanger. So, if you do see The Maze Runner, be sure to pay attention because you don’t want to forget everything that happened before the sequel comes out sometime next year.

There’s a lot of good things that can be said about The Maze Runner. For the most part, the actors did a good job. The grievers were scary. The maze looked impressive, though it’s hard not to feel that the film did not take full narrative advantage of it.

However, to be honest, I have seen so many recent adaptations of dystopian YA books that, with the exception of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, they’re all starting to blend together. The Maze Runner was well made but there really wasn’t anything about it that distinguished it from the pack. Without the presence of a star like Jennifer Lawrence or the satirical subtext that distinguished The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner ultimately just felt like your typical franchise starter, not so much a story but instead just an extended prologue.

Again, it’s not necessarily a bad film. It’s based on a book and, undoubtedly, a lot of details did not make it from the page to the screen but there’s still enough there that even people who haven’t read the book will probably be able to follow the story. Me, I’m a Texas girl and, therefore, it’s a part of my heritage to appreciate any film that features an individual taking on an elitist dystopia. But, in the end, the film is never quite as memorable as you want it to be.

Perhaps we’ve all just been spoiled by The Hunger Games…