THE AMERICAN

Action/thriller

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
George Clooney: Jack
Johan Leysen: his boss Pavel
Paolo Bonacelli: an elderly priest, Father Benedetto
Thekla Reuten: Mathilde, Jack's last client?
Violante Placido: Clara, a prostitute

REVIEW
Although promoted as an “action suspense thriller” there is very little action of any consequence to interrupt the long interludes with nothing much happening at all. But the Italian countryside is lovely to look at (as are some of the people Jack encounters) so not all is lost.

Clooney’s performance is unlike his other films in that he is rather subdued and not very talkative. Mind you that’s all that is asked of him as this enigma of a man nearing the end of his career.

Some of the conversations Jack has are hard to make out, especially with the priest and one scene with Mathilde near the church. Because of this and the dearth of expository dialogue I left the theatre with more questions than answers about what had transpired.

CLASSIFICATION
for violence, sexual content and nudity.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• Jack and Mathilde sit at adjacent tables at an outdoor café facing each other. She removes her sun glasses and puts them on the table beside the newspaper. However when the scene is viewed from over her shoulder she has the sunglasses in her hand.
• The church bell tolls once before Jack strikes the ball peen hammer and then 4 more times indicating it to be 5 o’clock but Jack’s watch shows it to be 6 o’clock.
• Jack pursues a car that comes to a crashing stop yet the windshield wipers continue to swish back and forth even though the engine is dead.
• Jack is about to take a photograph with his Nikon digital SLR camera and we see the subject through the viewfinder. Trouble is Nikon cameras have the Type B BriteView Clear Matte focusing screen with just one reference circle not three concentric ones.
• Jack and Mathilde are sitting in a roadside café. Although no one touches the little red plastic table marker, when he stands up it has moved from the side of the table to closer to where he was sitting.