American Assassin
| American Assassin | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Cuesta |
| Produced by | |
| Written by |
|
| Based on | American Assassin by Vince Flynn |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Steven Price[1] |
| Cinematography | Enrique Chediak |
| Edited by | Conrad Buff IV |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 111 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $33 million[3] |
| Box office | $22.2 million[3] |
American Assassin is a 2017 American action thriller film directed by Michael Cuesta and written by Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, based on Vince Flynn's 2010 novel of the same name. The film stars Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar and Taylor Kitsch, and follows young CIA black ops recruit Mitch Rapp, who helps a Cold War veteran try to stop the launching of a nuclear weapon in the Middle East. The film was released on September 15, 2017, has grossed $22 million worldwide and received mixed reviews.[4][5]
Contents
[hide]Plot[edit]
Mitch Rapp and his girlfriend are on vacation in Ibiza, Spain, when a radical Islamist jihadist cell lands on the beach and begins to attack the civilians with assault rifles. Amid the carnage, Rapp frantically attempts to find his girlfriend, but is unable to prevent her death at the hands of the terrorists.
Eighteen months later, Rapp, now consumed by his desire for vengeance, frequents an internet message board where the terrorist responsible for his girlfriend's murder quizzes Rapp on aspects of Islam and jihad. Having secured an invitation to meet him face to face, Rapp prepares to take his vengeance on the man responsible for his girlfriend's death, but before he can kill the terrorist, the cell is suddenly ambushed by U.S. Special Forces. Upset over the perception that he has been denied his vengeance, Rapp repeatedly stabs the terrorist he was after before being dragged out by the U.S. forces. In a CIA safe house Rapp undergoes 30 days of debriefing before being offered a chance by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy to join a black operations unit codenamed Orion. Its head, Stan Hurley, is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and a Cold War veteran who trains Rapp and the other potential recruits in asymmetrical warfare.
Elsewhere, word comes down through intelligence channels that weapons grade nuclear material has gone missing from a decommissioned Russian nuclear facility. The material in question appears to be heading to Iranian hardliners, who are upset with the Iranian government's recent nuclear deal with the U.S. While verifying the sale of the nuclear material in Poland the plutonium is intercepted by a third party, who eliminates the sellers before vanishing into the crowd. In Virginia, Hurley sees news reports about the incident in Poland and tentatively ID's the perpetrator as a former Navy SEAL and Orion operative believed to have been killed in action and now going by the codename "Ghost". Hurley's team is sent into Turkey to intercept the buyer "Ghost" is working for.
In Istanbul, Hurley's team is made, and the attempted intercept of the trigger device fails. Rapp pursues the buyer to his apartment, and after a protracted fight kills the man and retrieves his laptop. The information leads the team to Rome, where Orion operatives ID a nuclear physicist needed to craft the nuclear material into a functional nuclear weapon. While in Rome, Rapp's female companion Annika accidentally lets the name "Ghost" slip despite the fact that Rapp had not given her that name, leading Rapp to correctly ID the woman as a foreign intelligence agent. After a confrontation and her subsequent capture, she explains that she is working for the mainstream Iranian faction which is attempting to stop the hardliners from acquiring nuclear material, which Iran believes is to be used against Israel to start a war. During a meeting between Hurley and an Iranian contact to discuss Annika and the nuclear material, who happens to be Annika's uncle, Hurley is ambushed by "Ghost", who kills Hurley's contact and captures Hurley.
At the CIA safe house in Rome, Annika is being moved under guard by two Mossad agents when Rapp intercepts the car and frees her. Working together, both locate the subterranean headquarters "Ghost" is using to build the nuclear device. After infiltrating the tunnels, Rapp locates and frees a badly injured Hurley, however Annika is captured by "Ghost" and subsequently killed before "Ghost" escapes onto a boat with the nuke. Based on an earlier conversation, Hurley deduces that "Ghost" intends to make a kamikaze attack against the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet. Rapp chases after "Ghost's" boat, while the Sixth Fleet, alerted to the impending nuclear attack through CIA channels, assumes battle formation and nuclear attack protocol.
Aboard "Ghost's" boat, Rapp and "Ghost" engage in hand-to-hand combat for control of the boat and the nuclear weapon. After a grueling fight, Rapp gains the upper hand and kills "Ghost" with a knife attack to the throat. Rapp attempts to divert the boat away from the Sixth Fleet to shield the ships from the blast, however after a conversation with Hurley, he instead jettisons the nuclear weapon into the sea before escaping the boat aboard a U.S. Navy helicopter. Seconds later the device detonates, creating a massive sink hole and subsequent tidal wave that inundates the Sixth Fleet vessels, however the underwater detonation prevents the heat of the blast from reaching the ships. Having successfully ridden out the blast and shockwaves, the Sixth Fleet ships initiate nuclear decontamination procedures.
In the aftermath of the blast, Hurley is returned to the U.S. to undergo treatment for his injuries. While watching news reports that indicate that the Iranian hardliners will win the presidential election, Hurley observes that Rapp is on vacation. In Dubai, the hardliner candidate and his escorts enter an elevator in which Rapp is already present, and as the doors close, Rapp is observed smiling.
Cast[edit]
- Dylan O'Brien as Mitch Rapp
- Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley
- Sanaa Lathan as Deputy Director Irene Kennedy
- Shiva Negar as Annika
- Taylor Kitsch as "Ghost" (Ronnie)
- David Suchet as Director Thomas Stansfield
- Navid Negahban as Behurz
- Scott Adkins as Victor
- Charlotte Vega as Katrina Harper
Production[edit]
Pre-production[edit]
CBS Films acquired the rights to Flynn's book series in 2008. The New York Times bestseller, Consent to Kill, was intended to be the first film in a proposed series.[6] Consent to Kill was scheduled to be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler; the screenplay was written by Jonathan Lemkin. The studio's last few films have performed poorly causing them to delay the production of this film. Antoine Fuqua was originally attached to direct[7] with several names being rumored to play Mitch Rapp, including Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell and Matthew Fox.[8] However, being a prequel novel, American Assassin provided the opportunity to start at the very beginning of the character, Rapp's, career.[9]
Jeffrey Nachmanoff replaced Ed Zwick as director on February 12, 2012.[10] At the time, Zwick was also writing the script with Marshall Herskovtiz but a more recent draft was written by Mike Finch in October 2012.[11] A further director and screenwriter change took place with Michael Cuesta and Stephen Schiff, respectively, now on board as of March 2016.[12]
Production needed to start by April 30, 2016 or the rights to the film would be reverted to the Vince Flynn Estate.[13]
Casting[edit]
On October 10, 2012, Chris Hemsworth was believed to have been offered $10 million to play the lead, Mitch Rapp.[11] However, a month later, it was revealed Hemsworth turned down the role due to scheduling issues.[14] on May 10, 2016, after being "courted for months",[15] Dylan O'Brien was cast in the lead role with the "idea that O’Brien’s Mitch Rapp is college aged, and the hope is the actor grows as the series progresses."[16]
Bruce Willis was in talks to star as Stan Hurley in September 2012[17] but Michael Keaton was cast as Rapp's mentor on March 9, 2016.[12] Taylor Kitsch joined the cast on August 18, 2016 as the "villainous operative."[18]
On September 7, 2016, Shiva Negar and Sanaa Lathan joined the cast. Negar in a key role as a Turkish agent who teams up with Rapp and Hurley,[19] and Lathan as CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy, who is to the Flynn novels what M is to James Bond. In the books, Kennedy is white, but "Lathan shone above a large number of actresses who tested for the job as an actress who could grow in the role as her character rises from running strike teams to the heights of power."[20]
Filming[edit]
Principal photography took place between September and December 2016 in London, Rome, and Phuket,[21][22] with additional filming in Valletta[23] and Birmingham.[24][25][26][27]
Release[edit]
On March 20, 2017, the film received a September 15, 2017 release date.[28]
Marketing[edit]
A first picture of Dylan O'Brien as Mitch Rapp was released on September 12, 2016.[27] on November 2, 2016, production stills of the cast were published.[29]
A first trailer was shown to exhibitors at the Lionsgate panel on CinemaCon in March 2017.[30] The first poster and teaser trailer were released online in April 2017. on June 20, the red band trailer was released.[31]
Box office[edit]
As of September 19, 2017[update], American Assassin has grossed $16.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $22.2 million, against a production budget of $33 million.[3]
In North America, the film was released alongside Mother! and was projected to gross $12–14 million from 3,154 theaters in its opening weekend.[32] It made $915,000 from Thursday night previews at 2,400 theaters and $5.8 million on its opening day. It went on to debut to $14.8 million, finishing second at the box office behind holdover It.[33]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on 113 reviews, and an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "American Assassin hits a few easy targets, but without enough style or wit to truly bring its characters to life -- or stand out in a crowded field of more compelling spy thrillers."[4] on Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score 46 out of 100, based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[33]
Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars, mainly criticizing the film's confused disposition towards revenge: "[American Assassin] keeps telling you that revenge poisons the soul and is generally a bad idea while serving up awesome scenes of Mitch and colleagues killing terrorists.... It doesn't take long to figure out where the film's heart lies, and it would've been more honest if it had embraced that impulse from the start."[34] In addition, other negative reviews came from those such as Ed Potton of The Times, who said "It's just about conceivable that somebody who has never seen a spy thriller might find some enjoyment in American Assassin"[35] whilst Soren Anderson of the Seattle Times criticized O'Brien's performance with "O'Brien is grimly focused as Rapp, but there isn't a lot of electricity in his performance. He gets the job done, but he's no Matt Damon or Daniel Craig. Their spy-guy shoes remain unfilled." [36]
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave a borderline positive review of the film, stating that "'American Assassin' is a serviceable, workman-like thriller that makes the familiar as involving as its going to get. It demonstrates that even Jason Bourne lite is better than no Bourne at all, if you're in the mood.".[37] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commended the film calling it "Gorgeously shot by Enrique Chediak, American Assassin may be too slick for its own good, but O'Brien cuts deep enough to make you root for a Rapp franchise."[38] Seitz especially praised Michael Keaton's performance as a Cold War veteran, stating that he was the only actor to have built "an emotionally cohesive, memorable character" despite "material that too often mistakes exposition for psychology."[39] Jamie Righetti of Indiewire concluded that while the film presents a "predictable" script and the "bare minimum of fast action and ass-kicking mandated by [its] formula," paired with "O’Brien’s charm and an unquestionably tantalizing ending, it’s possible that audiences haven’t seen the last of Mitch Rapp."
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