It’s a common fear to wonder, “if something happened to my loved ones, what would I do about it?” It’s a hard question, both because of its emotionally devastating nature and because few among us have the skills and opportunity to affect or get justice for the situation… but what if you did? In James Hawes’ The Amateur, a brilliant CIA cryptographer’s life is upended in the face of a personal tragedy, and he has to take justice into his own hands. It’s a clever spy thriller that’s a little slower and more introspective than one might imagine, but strong performances and some well-executed (but occasionally logic-straining) plot twists and set-pieces elevate the film into something well worth seeing.
What is ‘The Amateur’ About?

In The Amateur, CIA cryptographer Charles Heller (Rami Malek) gets his world destroyed when his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) is taken hostage and killed in a London terrorist attack. Heller becomes despondent about both her death and the CIA’s unwillingness to enact justice on his wife’s killers. He does what we all would, and uses blackmail to force the CIA to train him so he can go on a campaign of revenge using his unique set of skills. Meanwhile, the CIA’s finest are hot on his trail, including CIA Deputy Director Alex Moore (Holt McCallany) and Heller’s CIA trainer, Robert Henderson (Laurence Fishburne).
Rami Malek Grieves, Gets Revenge, and Stretches Logic In ‘The Amateur’

The premise of The Amateur is exciting: someone with unconventional skills goes on a highly motivated campaign of revenge without the typical talents to back it up. Heller isn’t your usual spy thriller protagonist. Give him a gun, and he literally can’t hit a target. It produces many interesting set-ups and events as he finds indirect methods of revenge, and at its best executed, The Amateur reads like a Final Destination prequel about Death’s origins. It’s engaging, though it does produce a slower film than one might expect if you’re anticipating Heller to magically become James Bond or Ethan Hunt. The Amateur is an atypical spy thriller that takes you places the genre often won’t.
The journey largely works, in large part because Malek sells the character’s emotional devastation, fish-out-of-water oddness, and intellect well. It’s a fine and layered performance. Rachel Brosnahan exudes charisma and kindness despite having insufficient screen time (though the film does find surprising ways to continue putting her onscreen despite her character’s death being the inciting incident). Laurence Fishburne is electric throughout as a character whose bad side you want to avoid. It’s a well-cast film that finds excellent opportunities to put its characters in surprising situations while allowing strong emotional work from its leads.

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The film hits theaters in April.

Perhaps the film’s most central issue is that there are events and plot devices that are a little too convenient, an issue that’s always difficult to discuss sans spoilers. When Heller discovers the information that he uses as CIA blackmail, it connects in one specific way to the terrorists that killed Sarah, which, if an accident, would be a mighty big convenience. That connection, how Heller found out shortly before the crisis, and the fact that it was Sarah who was taken, are purely coincidental in an odd way. That major element is the biggest contrivance among a few small additional ones, not quite glaring enough to destroy the experience of watching the film, but surely enough to cause a raised eyebrow or two.
‘The Amateur’ May Not Be The Movie You’re Expecting, But It’s A Good One

Image via 20th Century Studios

The Amateur is an altogether solid spy thriller, though one a little more emotional and a little less action-heavy than one might expect from the premise. It doesn’t pull back from the action implications of its premise as much as the otherwise excellent Pig, for example (which ends up landing somewhere like “what if John Wick was actually Thomas Keller”), but the pacing and certain pivots are surprising. Malek shines overall as the awkwardly smart widower, and Fishburne is a little underutilized, but he’s electric whenever he’s onscreen. The film is at its best when Heller is executing novel kills or blackmailing his bosses, and we’re given just enough of those adrenaline-pumping scenes to make it all work together well. The Amateur strikes that delicate balance often (though not universally), but it works well enough when it counts, for an outing worth seeing.
The Amateur comes to theaters on April 11.

The Amateur

‘The Amateur’ sees an emotionally layered Rami Malek go on an unconventional, largely effective, but logic-straining campaign of revenge.

Release Date

April 11, 2025

Director

James Hawes

Writers

Gary Spinelli

Pros & Cons

Rami Malek is great as the grieving, vengeful widower, and Laurence Fishburne and Rachel Brosnahan excel whenever they’re onscreen.
Some of the film’s kills and plot twists are wildly clever and memorably clever.
It’s a unique spy thriller that stands out in a crowded field due to an interesting protagonist with an original skillset.

It’s slower and somewhat different in execution than the premise would lead audiences to believe, and expectations should be adjusted accordingly.
Some key elements of the narrative are wildly implausible and strain the script’s logic.