He is THE AMATEUR
By Jeri Jacquin | June 12, 2025
Jeri Jacquin
This week on Digital and coming to Bluray and 4k Ultra HD from director James Hawes and 20th Century Studios is a man who is THE AMATEUR.
Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) is sending his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) off to a conference in Europe while he goes to his job at the CIA as a cryptographer. Getting straight to work, his job is secretive but he is good at it. When he is called into the office of boss Director Moore (Holt McCallany) and Director O’Brien (Julianne Nicholson) where he is told that his wife has died and Charlie is horrified. Almost immediately he begins his work discovering what happened, how and who is responsible. Bringing it up to his superiors, he makes it clear that all Charlie wants is to handle the situation himself.
When they don’t approve, he is sent Hendo Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) to give him some help in what he is planning to do. While Training, Henderson makes it clear that some people just aren’t simply capable of killing. While he is away, Moore is attempting to discover what Charlie might know and tear his house and office apart. They want to know what is he doing with the information but they obviously don’t understand what Charlie can do. His intelligence gives him the edge as he manages to slip away from everyone and follow the trail to Europe. There, he finally meets contact Inquiline (Cailtriona Balfe) who does her best to help find those responsible for Sarah’s death.
The trail is brutal and full of secrets that go deeper than Charlie could ever have imagined. When CIA operative O’Brien (Jon Bernthal) attempts to wrangle him in, he once again knows how to slip the boundaries they attempt to place on him. No matter how much the CIA uses its technology, they forgot one thing – Charlie created that technology!
Malek as Charlie is a man devastated by the loss of his wife and disgusted by the CIA’s lack of action. Deciding that if they won’t do anything, he will use all he has learned as an analyst play out in the real world. Malek plays a grieving husband but, when his character goes rogue, he does so in such a calm manner. The Agency thinks they are able to corral him but you can’t capture someone who you’ve always underrated. This is such an awesome character for him to play and adds a layer of thrill with the combination of political, psychological and action in the vein of THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) among so many others. Malek has cemented his place in that line up.
McCallany as Moore is a stern character who can not get Charlie to understand that there are things at play that he doesn’t know about. Once Charlie goes rogue, he is not only dealing with that, but feeling the breath of Director O’Brien all over his neck. I have come to so appreciate McCallany’s body of work and I just love his strong characters. Nicholson as Director O’Brien understands that Charlie is devastated and enlists the help of Moore to keep their noses clean. She gets the suspicion that Charlie isn’t going to let the death of his wife go unanswered. Nicholson always plays such a strong character and it is the same here.
Fishburne as Henderson attempts to train Charlie but also realizes that training him to kill someone just isn’t working. He is impressed by that Charlie can do but it doesn’t mean it will help him with his goal. Fishburne is just that – Fishburne. A consummate actor who can do any role you put in front of him. This isn’t a large role but it is a good one. Bernthal as O’Brien sees Charlie as a friend and wants to help but so people you just can’t get to understand and Charlie is one of them. Again, the role isn’t a large one but keep you spidey senses on high alert.
Balfe as Inquiline is someone that Charlie has been in contact with for a while but never in person. When he arrives in Europe, it is Balfe’s character that guides him in the direction he needs to go. I just love seeing Balfe as I am a huge fan of OUTLANDER and here she begins to separate herself from that role and onto something thriller in another genre.
Other cast includes Adrian Martinez as Carlos, Marc Rissman as Mishka Blazhic, Joseph Millson as Ellish, Barbara Probst as Gretchen Frank, Alice Hewkin as Ali Park and Henry Garrett as the Chief of Staff. Look for the cameo of Marthe Keller who starred in the 1981 film as Elizabeth.
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Bonus Features include The Team, The World, The Pool, The Score, and Deleted Scenes.
Robert Littrell specialized in espionage novel having been a journalist and novelist writing about the spy world of the CIA. He wrote the screenplay before the novel with the title The Amateur: A Novel of Revenge in 1981.
Malek, having played a Bond Villain in the 2021 film NO TIME TO DIE gets the opportunity to play the other side of a thriller and proves he can do both. In the role of Charlie Heller, he is as smooth as they come, smarter than his superiors could ever have imagined and determined to do what the agency won’t. He has no problem using his intelligence and abilities to keep everyone at arm’s length until he finishes what he started. Just brilliantly done.
The cast brings so much to the political table with secrets, mysteries, lies, no trusting and, best of all, no idea who they are dealing with. I love that part of the film as each thing Charlie pulls off, there is someone in the background shaking his head in disbelief. That makes watching so much more enjoyable because rooting for Charlie is what it is all about. Nothing or no one is going to stop the inevitable.
In the end – do not underestimate him!
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