The American (Corbijn, 2010)

[Morris Schæffer]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44919

There are some high-def. trailer formats here:

http://www.davestrailerpage.co.uk/

[B-side]

Yay another "hitman on his last job" film!

[eternity]

Control was amazing and this is definitely a gorgeous trailer.

[Raiders]

Probably among my, if not my most, anticipated US film remaining in 2010. Trailer is standard, but many of the individual shots are pretty great.

[Adam]

That is a spiffy trailer, despite the cliche. More than anything I hope between Mike Clayton and now this ruckus, Clooney realizes his true destiny and does nothing but 1970-ish cool-as-ice slow burners for the next decade

[megladon8]

That looks great. Can't wait to see it. Clooney's a very good actor.

I really liked that second-to-last shot of Clooney sitting alone at the table, way to the far right of the frame.

[Morris Schæffer]

That's an incredible poster!

[MacGuffin]

Wow, that's an awesome poster!

[number8]

That poster is way cooler than the trailer.

[Boner M]

Wow, this got a bafflingly wide US release... based on the reviews, that sounds like a major mistake.

[baby doll]

That poster is way cooler than the trailer.It's better than the movie too.

[Raiders]

Wow, this got a bafflingly wide US release... based on the reviews, that sounds like a major mistake.

It's going to be #1 this weekend, so doesn't seem like too bad of an idea.

I will be seeing this tomorrow. Even with the mediocre reviews, most point to a formally excellent film with little direction or story which is something I am in the mood for if that makes any sense.

[eternity]

Wow, this got a bafflingly wide US release... based on the reviews, that sounds like a major mistake.

Clooney, man.

[Sycophant]

I'm drawing a blank as I try to write any adequate words about this thing. I liked it, quite a bit. I'm surprised not only that it got a wide US release, but that it got as many people into the theaters it as it did. It's a slow, methodical, precise, tense piece of craftsmanship. Clooney is suitably impenetrable and the picture recalls nothing more immediately for me than Le Samourai.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Does Clooney die at the end?

[Sycophant]

Does Clooney die at the end?

I answer this below
So make sure you want to know
You ready for this
Yeah, it would appear so.

[Kurosawa Fan]

and the picture recalls nothing more immediately for me than Le Samourai.

:eek:

Wow, maybe I need to make this a priority.

[baby doll]

:eek:

Wow, maybe I need to make this a priority.No, you don't.

[Sycophant]

:eek:

Wow, maybe I need to make this a priority.

I should temper that with an acknowledgment that it's not as good as Melville's film. Your reaction could be less positive than mine. But baby doll's dismissal of the picture makes me wanna champion it.

[baby doll]

I should temper that with an acknowledgment that it's not as good as Melville's film. Your reaction could be less positive than mine. But baby doll's dismissal of the picture makes me wanna champion it.It's not terrible, but I wouldn't make it a high priority, especially if you haven't seen The Limits of Control.

[Pop Trash]

The Limits of Control comparisons are apt (full frontal nudity, people getting tips at Euro outdoor cafes while sipping espresso, austere cinematography with emphasis on architecture -Antonioni-esque that-, etc.), but I think I enjoyed this a bit more. It felt more straight-forward whereas LoC seems almost like some bizarre stoner-logic parody of a movie like this. Neither one is superb, but the minimal, irony free tone of this reminded me more of 70s cinema whereas LoC seems steeped in jokey 80s/90s Jarmusch irony.

About the only scene that really didn't work for me was when Once Upon A Time in the West is playing at some bar or cafe or something and the worker comments on it. That seemed way too self-referential, winky at the audience for a flick like this that otherwise managed to avoid things like that.

[Henry Gale]

And here's my biggest surprise of the year.

I was not expecting this to be what it was, especially after the way it was marketed, and my subsequent assumption that the critical and audience response to it was a reaction to it essentially being what the advertising made it out to be instead of it being because it was something else entirely. In many ways, though, this was exactly the film I hoped to see when I heard George Clooney was starring in an Italian-set assassin film made by Anton Corbijn, I just didn't quite know it.

I'm stunned that this got the release it did, and it's obviously that it's entirely because (and thanks to) Clooney's star power. I guess I just love that he's at this point now where he can properly involve the right people to make a delicate, moody, almost-dreamlike story like this as expertly and beautifully made as possible and then open it to a mass audience, whether they like it or not. He produced it, and is in nearly every scene, but it's the first of these that to me really seems to inform what's expected of him as a performer in it. I think many unfairly characterized him as being one-note, but there's a lot of nuance here that goes beyond what the script lays out for him that I found more effective than some of the things he's gotten awards attention for in recent years.

So yeah, I loved it. The score is also incredible. So from here I'll definitely pick up the soundtrack, the Blu-ray when it comes out, then cautiously recommend it to people I know.

[ledfloyd]

i really dug this as well, it's probably my favorite english language film of the year. the only things i didn't like were the leone scene (for the reasons pop trash mentioned) and the butterfly symbolism. everything else is quite good, even if it never quite rises above pastiche. i think it's easily the performance of clooney's career. possibly my favorite of the films he's been in as well, but i do have a soft spot for out of sight.

it's just nice to see a crime thriller that doesn't have a constant score, loads of shakycam and an 1 second ASL.

[baby doll]

it's just nice to see a crime thriller that doesn't have a constant score, loads of shakycam and an 1 second ASL.Setting the bar a bit low, don't ya think?

[Ezee E]

Nice craftsmanship, but I remain very ho-hum about it otherwise.

[Grouchy]

This was a very good genre movie. I look forward to better things from this Corbjin guy.

[Irish]

Enjoyed this immensely up until the last 20 minutes or so, when it starts to feel like every other movie out there.

Well shot and well acted, but it has to be because the story is more or less boilerplate.

Also, agree with Pop Trash about the Sergio Leone bit. In a movie so carefully restrained, that seemed really out of place.

Still, think it has one of the best opening scenes in the last few years.

Clooney is an all-star stuck in the farm teams of mediocre scripts. I keep waiting for something rock solid to come his way so he can start building the legend a bit more.

[Henry Gale]

Enjoyed this immensely up until the last 20 minutes or so, when it starts to feel like every other movie out there.

I would maybe agree that the climax of it has the most streamlined or typical feel out of anything in it, but I'd still say it's more than competently done, didn't do too much to betray the mood of everything that came before it, and I thought it still managed to deliver a couple of great moments in that final sequence, even if they do feel like they were scrapped from any more typical Hollywood assassin movie.

Still, the very final moments really worked for me, and in the end it's the strength of those last images as well as almost everything that came before it the ending that really shaped my overall love for it.


Clooney is an all-star stuck in the farm teams of mediocre scripts. I keep waiting for something rock solid to come his way so he can start building the legend a bit more.

In terms of Clooney, he's in a position where he's probably offered and aware of everything, and it seems like it's the stuff that is most connected to people he already has a working relationship with or has general admiration for that he actually pays attention to, and even then it seems like he goes for the stuff that will potentially put him far away from any comfort zone. With the exception of Up In The Air (which he still got himself nominated for every industry award for), I look at his last five movies, and they don't scream "Big-Time Hollywood Star" at all. Hopefully his next string of films, including Cuaron's Gravity, Alexander Payne's new one, and Ides of March (which he's also directing himself) with Ryan Gosling, will all help to deliver the sort of amazing run of stuff I've also been hoping to see from him, but have only witnessed intermittently.

[Qrazy]

Thought this was pretty weak. Le Samourai it ain't.

[B-side]

Thought this was pretty weak. Le Samourai it ain't.

C- seems about right, though it's certainly D territory at its worst.