The Amateur- Rami Malek plays a grieving nerd-turned-spy on a mission for revenge.

The Amateur is an action spy thriller directed by James Hawes. It stars Rami Malek as an IT guy working for the CIA out for revenge after his wife's death.

Rami Malek as Charlie Heller

The Amateur follows Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) a skilled, nerdy CIA decoder whos wife Sarah is killed in a London terrorist attack. When Charlie's supervisors at the CIA refuse to take action against the terrorists Charlie uses his intelligence as a weapon as he goes on a mission to make the men pay for killing his wife.

Rami Malek leads the film well, he suits the nerdy hacker who is transforming his grief into a purpose. However, I did feel like at moments his characters emotion didn't feel that powerful and I felt that there was little character development making him seem quite two dimensional. The supporting cast, Laurence Fishburne (as Henderson, Charlie's skilled trainer) and Holt McCallany (Moore, Charlie's boss) both give strong performances. However, Jon Bernthal's character felt unnecessary and not used to his full extent, the scenes could have been cut with there being no effect on the story.

If you are looking for a well paced spy thriller then I would recommend this film, some scenes are a little over the top, but the plot feels grounded and has enough good action scenes to keep you interested. The film doesn't lean into the usual spy fantasy films like James Bond and Jason Bourne. It takes a different turn with the lead not being an action hero but a tech guy who makes mistakes, and is unable to hold a gun and take a life as it feels too up close and personal. It is his love for his wife that keeps him going despite being out of his depth and not much training, he will do anything to get justice for his wife's death.