The Amateur
The Amateur is a revenge thriller about a man who is not supposed to be in the revenge business. Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) is a CIA cryptographer, basement-dweller, a code-breaker who restores old Cessnas on weekends. He's not a killer. He's never fired a weapon in anger.…
Full analysis below
NOT A WOKE TRAP. The Amateur is a straightforward revenge thriller. There is no hidden progressive agenda lurking past the midpoint. The film's mildly woke elements -- a corrupt male CIA establishment and a slightly diminished lead -- are present from the opening act and carry no ideological freight. The story is about a man avenging his murdered wife. That's it. Conservative viewers can watch this without any ambush.
Our Verdict on The Amateur
The Amateur is a revenge thriller about a man who is not supposed to be in the revenge business. Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) is a CIA cryptographer, basement-dweller, a code-breaker who restores old Cessnas on weekends. He's not a killer. He's never fired a weapon in anger. When terrorists murder his wife Sarah in London and his supervisors refuse to act, Charlie does something unexpected: he blackmails the CIA into training him and then goes after the four killers himself.
It's a solid premise lifted from Robert Littell's 1981 Cold War novel, and screenwriters Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down) and Gary Spinelli strip it down to clean genre mechanics. Charlie is a brain, not a body. He doesn't outfight anyone. He outthinks them. His kills are improvised and indirect: a hypobaric chamber filled with pollen, rigged scuba gear, a tactical explosive. The film's most interesting choice is letting Charlie fail at the conventional stuff. He can't shoot Gretchen Frank in an allergy clinic even with a gun in his hand. He's haunted. He's not Jason Bourne.
Director James Hawes (Slow Horses, Black Mirror) brings a TV-trained precision to the set pieces. The Madrid pool sequence is clever. The Istanbul escape has momentum. The action is coherent and well-staged without being spectacular. This is a modest, functional spy film, not a franchise launcher pretending to be literary.
The film's big weakness is emotional. We needed to know Sarah before we lost her. Rachel Brosnahan is a gifted actress given almost nothing to do except exist and then die. Charlie's grief drives the entire 124-minute runtime, but the film never earns it fully because Sarah is a silhouette. The loss registers intellectually, not viscerally.
For our audience, the values question is simple: a husband loves his wife. Her murder destroys him. He refuses to let institutional cowardice bury her killers. He acts. The CIA establishment -- career bureaucrats who covered up drone strikes -- are the institutional villains. The agency's good people ultimately back Charlie up. Personal love, personal honor, individual action against institutional corruption. That's as traditional as it gets.
There are trace woke elements. Moore's conspiracy involves covered-up drone strikes on civilians, framing American military action as something to be hidden and ashamed of. Charlie's moral ambiguity -- he leaves two targets to die via improvised means rather than direct confrontation -- raises questions the film doesn't fully answer. These are not ideological intrusions. They're genre texture.
RT Critics: 69% (Fresh). RT Audience: 86%. Metacritic: 52. IMDB: 6.5. Box office: $96M worldwide on a $60M budget.
Woke Tropes & Content Analysis
Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier
🔴 Woke Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drone Strike Cover-Up / Military Complicity | 2 | Moderate | Moderate | 2 |
| Establishment / Institutional Villain Template | 2 | Low | Moderate | 1.4 |
| Moral Ambiguity in Protagonist Violence | 1 | Low | Low | 0.5 |
| TOTAL WOKE | 3.9 | |||
🟢 Traditional Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marital Love & Devotion | 5 | High | High | 5 |
| Personal Honor & Justice | 4 | High | High | 4 |
| Courage Under Pressure | 4 | High | High | 4 |
| Institutional Corruption Punished | 3 | High | Medium | 2.1 |
| Self-Reliance & Individual Ingenuity | 3 | High | Medium | 2.1 |
| Loyalty Among Friends | 2 | High | Low | 0.7 |
| Grief as Meaningful Motivation | 3 | High | Medium | 2.1 |
| TOTAL TRADITIONAL | 20.0 | |||
Score Margin: +9.7 TRAD
Director: James Hawes
NEUTRAL. Hawes is a British TV-to-film director without a discernible political profile. His work includes Black Mirror episodes and The Crown, neither of which suggests a political agenda that translates to feature films.James Hawes has directed episodes of Black Mirror, Slow Horses, and The Crown, all prestige British drama. His feature work is limited but competent. The Amateur is his biggest theatrical release and shows he can handle set-piece action while keeping character focus. His instincts are classical: clean shot composition, coherent geography, character-first pacing. He doesn't grandstand. He tells the story.
Writer: Ken Nolan & Gary Spinelli
Ken Nolan wrote Black Hawk Down (2001), one of the most unflinching and pro-military films of its era. That pedigree matters here. Nolan's adaptation of Robert Littell's 1981 Cold War novel keeps the core premise -- a non-combatant takes down a terrorist cell -- while updating the setting and technology. Gary Spinelli co-wrote Stash House and Assassin's Creed. Together they produce a lean thriller that doesn't moralize or editorialize. The script is built on plot mechanics and character grief, not political messaging.
Content Breakdown
Adult Viewer Insight
Adult conservatives will find The Amateur a competent, occasionally compelling spy thriller that doesn't insult the audience. Rami Malek's unconventional performance is the film's strongest asset. The script's refusal to turn Charlie into a conventional action hero -- he's cerebral, frightened, and morally compromised rather than slick -- makes the film more interesting than its marketing suggests. The grief element is undercooked but present. Ken Nolan's Black Hawk Down DNA shows in the film's respect for operational detail. Laurence Fishburne is excellent. The ending is satisfying. A solid rental, maybe a marginal theatrical outing.
Parental Guidance
PG-13. Recommended age 14 and up. A woman dies in a terrorist attack (not graphic). Multiple deaths via improvised means (pressure differential, explosives, falling). Brief interrogation scenes. Mild profanity. No sexual content. The film's moral complexity -- a grieving husband who extorts his employer and leaves enemies to die -- is worth discussing with mature teens. Not appropriate for young children due to the adult emotional framework and genre violence.
Is The Amateur Safe for Kids?
Rated R for violence and language. The Amateur contains frequent profanity including multiple uses of the F-word and other strong language throughout. Violence is a central element, featuring gunfights, hand-to-hand combat, and action sequences typical of the spy thriller genre. While intense, the violence is not gratuitously gory, focusing on action rather than graphic detail. There are a few scenes of blood, but they remain moderate in intensity. Sexual content is minimal. There are no significant nude scenes or explicit sexual situations, though brief suggestive moments and innuendo appear occasionally. Alcohol use is present in social settings but is not a significant focus of the film. The film contains limited spiritual or religious references, neither promoting nor attacking faith traditions. The narrative centers on a morally conflicted protagonist seeking justice rather than exploring faith-based themes. Parents should note that this is fundamentally an action revenge thriller with the intensity level typical of the genre. The protagonist is portrayed as an ordinary person forced into extraordinary and violent circumstances, which some viewers may find sympathetic while others may object to the violence itself. Recommended for ages 16 and older, primarily due to the combination of frequent profanity and intense action violence. Mature teens who have engaged with similar action thrillers should find this appropriate, though younger teens should wait until older.
Find The Amateur on Amazon Prime Video, rent, or buy:
▶ Stream or Buy on AmazonAs an Amazon Associate, VirtueVigil earns from qualifying purchases.
Community Discussion 0
Subscribe to comment.
Join the VirtueVigil community to share your perspective on this review.