In terms of action films, there was absolutely nothing new here in every regard. It knows what it is and didn’t try to be anything more. It’s big, it’s loud, and it’s stupid so it’s basically what you would call a popcorn movie and this will be enough for some people. What starts off as a quest for revenge thrusts a young man named Mitch Rapp to the CIA where he joins a black ops team run by a veteran named Stan Hurley (Keaton). Their mission was to stop one of Hurley’s former recruits known as Ghost (Taylor Kitsch).

The derivative nature of the story and storytelling took away from the excitement that could have been had. It’s predictable nature also lessened the impact of its many twists and turns. The characters aren’t that deep, making it difficult to care about them with the best being Keaton’s Hurley as he is given the most to do. O’Brien was a serviceable action lead but he was not asked to do much on an emotional level as his early motivations were quickly forgotten (although could return in the inevitable sequel). Kitsch was okay as the villain but wasn’t asked to do much either.

Overall, this was a decent action film that was very derivative in its execution but offers some exciting moments and a fun performance by Michael Keaton.

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American Assassin – A Decent Yet Derivative Action Film - Movie Reviews