THE AMERICAN (USA 2010) **
Directed by Anton Cobijn

In THE ASSASSIN, George Clooney plays Jack, a hit man who has had enough.  After having to kill a girlriend (Clooney has a heart, which is the reason he won the Bob Hope Humanitarian award at the 2010 Emmy’s), he swears one last job while he hides out at a small Italian village, Castel del Monte.  Contrary to advice, he falls for a local woman, Clara (Violante Placido).

The story is pretty thin and straight forward.  Hit-man wants out, falls in love, does one last job but agency will not let him.  To director Cobijn’s (Corbijn last made the excellent bip-pic CONTROL about the Joy Division lead singer) credit, he does well with the minimal plot, allowing the audience to put two and two together to complete the story.  But there is one glaring story loophole at the end – why the agency decides to take out Jack’s assassin before Jack.

THE AMERICAN is beautifully shot by Martin Ruhe, also responsible for the black and white cinematography in CONTROL.  Castel del Monte never looked more inviting as the surroundings like the river where Jack and Clara picnic.  All the actors from Clooney to Placido all look too perfect!

The dramatic scenes in the film work well.  Corbijn is able to draw tension between the two lovers and also draws a compelling segment in which Jack and the local priest, Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli).

But still the film lacks a more solid story.  No matter how good the film looks in between the storytelling, the fact that there are insufficient plot and subplots in the movie cannot be hidden from the audience.