This Week's Review: "American Assassin"

After I saw “It,” I should have in the market for something a bit soothing, but the only interesting film available the weekend of September 16 was “American Assassin.” Soothing, it isn’t.

The only reason I decided to see it was the name of Michael Keaton among the cast. I had never heard of the principal actor, Dylan O’Brien, and I am not likely to line up for advance tickets for his next role. Keaton shamelessly steals the show whenever he is on screen; he is almost a parody of the tough old secret agent trying to turn a headstrong jerk into a usable assassin. That is not the newest of plots and there are very few new twists.

The film is violent, but I was particularly troubled by the torture scenes; they were more than graphic. The film certainly deserves its “R” rating.

I have never read any of the novels about these characters. I know the original author is dead, and someone else is continuing the series; that worked with the Jason Bourne character, but I am not likely to buy the books in order to catch up. I can get along quite nicely with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels and even better with Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series.