The American

Ah, the life of a hitman. Shadowy, mysterious….and dull. Music video director Anton Corbijn comes unstuck here as despite his excellent feature length debut (Control) his first output away from the land of drum beats and strummed guitars is a character study of a hitman, but fails to liven things up by placing him in an interesting storyline. The hitman in question in this instance is Jack (George Clooney), who holes up in a tiny Italian village and informs his handler that his next job will be his last one. However, is Jack the target of a hit himself? First thing to say is that the storyline of the hunter becoming the hunted is hardly original. Nor is the portrayal of Jack’s life as a hitman as one of monotonous routine. This has been shown before in films of a similar bent, and though it may be realistic, it has been counter balanced by strong additional storylines. The obvious example here being The Day Of The Jackal, which flipped between hitman and hitman’s pursuers. However, Corbijn fails to give us much else apart from Jack’s stunted interactions with the locals of the village. This in itself is a failure, with two of them in particular, a stunning prostitute and a priest who turns a blind eye to Jack’s “job”, stretching credibility to breaking point. As virtually the whole film is from Jacks point of view, the story never takes us anywhere else. Clooney is mis-cast here as his brooding just makes him look constantly confused and Jack isn’t a part for which he can call on his usual charisma. Though the film isn’t great, Corbijn is no fool with a camera and most scenes are beautifully shot, especially the lighting of the night time tip-toeing through the street adjuncts. Overall this isn’t a terrible film, it’s just that it’s already been done many times and a lot better.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
A few neat scenes aside, this is just far too slow not helped by some pretty unbelievable characters. Rating: 5/10.