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American Assassin

(3 popcorn boxes)

  I liked American Assassin more than I thought I would. I’m sure we are all surprised by that! I have been shirking my movie duties lately, I haven’t been to the theatre since July.  I did go to see The Hitman’s Bodyguard, but several weeks after its release…I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. Go figure.

  American Assassin worked well in many aspects. It also had some great big plot holes and head scratching moments.

  Mitch Rapp (Dylan O𠆛rien of Maze Runner fame) has had a rough life. Well, we don’t really know that until much later in the film. The day he proposes to his beautiful blonde girlfriend while on a beach vacation, terrorist strike and she is killed. Apparently, this sends Rapp over the edge and he decides to dedicate his life to killing terrorists. That should be fun.

  This brings up one of the head scratching moments…Rapp works on infiltrating a terrorist cell 18 months after the girlfriend dies. That’s not confusing. While online and on the phone with these terrorists, he reads and speaks fluent Farsi. I could be wrong, but Farsi doesn’t seem to be a language you can pick up in 18 months. That bothered me throughout the whole movie.

  Naturally, the CIA is monitoring Rapp and his contact with the terrorists. When he manages to actually set up a meeting, the CIA decides he should join their team and they shuffle him off to be a part of the Black Ops team. Sweet.

  Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton, he’s always fun) is the leader/trainer for the special ops team. He thinks Rapp has his own agenda and won’t follow orders. Duh.

  As we follow Rapp in his first mission, but successful and also an epic failure, we don’t really get to know him well. But it is still fun to watch. Great car chases, gun fights, hand-to-hand combat and more. O𠆛rien was quite believable as this damaged man turned assassin.

  Sadly, Keaton’s character was mostly cliché and he didn’t really seem very important. When Ghost (Taylor Kitsch), an old agent thought dead (yep, that old chestnut) shows up it doesn’t really notch up the action as much as dilute the story. The director and writers seemed to be putting too much side action in here to keep our attention.

  I’ll give American Assassin three out of five boxes. The ending was the usual set-up for future films and capers. I will probably go see those. This film is rated R for violence, torture and language.

  Check this week’s issue of the Frankenmuth News for a complete listing of shows and times.

MOVIE TRIVIA

  Dylan O𠆛rien has made a good name for himself in the well-done Maze Runner movies. He also appears in this popular MTV television series based on a 1985 movie.

LAST WEEK’S MOVIE TRIVIA

   I like Charlize Theron. She was amazing in the 2010 video for Brandon Flowers’ Crossfire. She has also appeared in some real clunkers…like this 2008 ‘superhero’ film starring Wil Smith. Hitchcock.