The American Reviews

"And above all remember: don't make any friends, Jack. You used to know that."

Wow, anti-social. Harsh, dude.

And, wow, what a moron I was to think that a film called "The American" with George Clooney was going to be a comedy. That illusion was more or less shattered by the time the opening credits rolled....

And, yes, corpses are incompatible with comedy, in my book.

So much for escaping-the-dark-past, and all that crap.

And I thought that I was going to watch George Clooney trying to be romantic-- watching George Clooney trying to be romantic can be funny, I think.... Oh! Soft-hearted assasin!-- but it ended up being more about him having these long artsy half-English half-Italian conversations with a priest and assorted other losers, and pretending to be a photographer who takes pictures in the mountains and having people calling him "l'americano" and telling other people about the people that he liked that he shot.... And basically just walking around alot, and having lots of really really dull non-conversations.

(And the only thing that I learned in Italian class was "gelato" and he doesn't have any goddamn gelato.... Just have a little gelato, dammit. It's like ice cream, only more Italian. And for God's sake, say something soothing for a change, the last thing I need right now is everybody's voiced and unvoiced gripes and griefs....)

I should really just stick with Steve Carell movies, if this is the alternative. There was no Steve Carell-y growing up experience.... Just lots and lots and lots of scenes with no dialogue.

{I remember once, when I still read foreign newspapers online-- to improve my artsy language skills-- I really liked this one from Spain, (and God knows why I gave a damn about politics in Spain, and so on), and it was called.... *smiles*, 'Espanoles!', no, no.... 'Este Pais', so, anyway.... One time they reviewed one of these really moron artsy flicks that people like George Clooney do, and I guess that it must have had the Spanish George Clooney in it, whoever the hell he is.... And the whole think had literally *no dialogue*-- and all because it was about the fucking ETA, or some such trash.... "We have created a movie without ideology." Yeah, or dialogue.... And knowing all that is almost as amusing as knowing that PC people in Spain aren't supposed to say "Spain"-- it's "this country" or something instead, and all because *Spain is different*.... And I suppose that you're not allowed to call the guys in the worker's council in Barcelona-- "Spaniards!"-- either.... *waves hands*, God, what fucking bollocks it is, knowing about all that trash.... Do you know what was the first thing that they taught us in Italian class? (Even before gelato!) The articles. "Not 'il americano', 'l'americano!', 'l'americano!' *guy rides off on bike*" Although, in class, I had to listen to the worst sort of ancient Italian shrew that you've ever met in your life.... God, if I could only even tell you about it....}

And, yes, I do think that I can escape history, Christ-boy. Now stop being so goddamn boring.

(6/10)

When a mission goes wrong in Sweden,Jack (George Clooney),a professional executioner,will resort to central Italy.There should be organized, without attracting the attention of people who living there,the next job that intends to be his last.But now from hunter has become hunted.As always,alone among strangers who can be trusted,Jack searches for redemption for the acts of a lifetime.Two strangers,however,one priest (Paolo Bonacelli) and a beautiful prostitute,Clara (Violante Placido),are perhaps the only reminder that there may be a way out of his old life.


With George Clooney taciturn and perfect for the role of "American"and pics to bet to the beautiful Italian landscape and to sensual female presences,the movie of Anton Corbin has all the elements that can make managed to initially managed to impress in the beggining.
Adopted slowly rythms and gives,through a subtle threat,underground activity to the film. Uses increasingly panoramic shots and dark colors but the most impressive of all, however, is the place who choose for filming.Italy,transformed in the hands of Corbjin into the ultimate tool to set up the film.The stone buildings,the weather and the feeling of isolation give you the ultimate feeling of constant persecution.
But after the first half,the weak script drop the final result.Yes the script has problems and the final scene i think that is emotionally indifferent.
The performance of George Clooney is very good but as the minutes roll,seems like lose the hypocritical game in some scenes.


With few words a very good film,but needs patience to enjoy it.

Slow and hard movie where the killer looking for the way out but can't go there. Looking for normal life but too far. Great acting of Cloony and all the rest.

hahaha yeah I definitely agree with Potatoflip.... I went and saw this with my grandma and we were both so bored, there so many pointless scenes and the movie was so slow. I'm a fan of Clonney's movies but this one is not up there at all... I was really disappointed.

Whoever called this an action movie or even a thriller obviously doesnt know what action is!
Numerous meaningless scences and simply no action at all...

I'd rather call it "The Story of a lonely Sinner", this way no one would expect action and furthermore wouldnt be disappointed.

The music was nice, it was made by Herbert Grönemeyer, a german singer.

Everytime the music became suspenseful and the scene would fit to be some kind of thrilling, it endured one minute and another useless scene followed.
There was not even a climax in tension.

I would definetely NOT recommend it!

Obviously a foreign film, and I'm an ignorant American, so judge me now. George Clooney did a great acting job, but I would not say it was his best work. The movie was slow paced but mostly kept you intrigued. By the end you could tell what was going to happen, and the suspense was well done, but overall I thought the build up just was not worth the amount of time I invested into the film. I would think it is worth watching once, especially for the total of 10 lines George had in the movie.