Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien) loses his girlfriend to a terrorist attack while they’re on vacation in Basque, Spain.  He vows to take down every Islamic cell he can in a quest for vengeance and he draws the attention of CIA which save him and recruit him for an elite CIA black ops team which is trained by former US Navy Seal Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton).  Rapp and Hurley are soon sent on a mission to stop a terrorist named Ghost who has gotten hold of some plutonium to make a nuclear bomb.   

AMERICAN ASSASSIN is a by-the-numbers spy thriller which will entertain audiences, but it has left critics cold.  Dylan O’Brien isn’t recognizable from his other roles as he has undergone a transformation into the character of Rabb while Michael Keaton is also fantastic in this movie.  The movie has enough action sequences and character moments to get by.   It isn’t a big spy thriller like a James Bone or Jason Bourne movie or Atomic Blonde, but it isn’t meant to be.   The movie is impressive for what did on a $35 million budget.  I do hope more movies are made based on the Mitch Rabb novels by Vince Flynn.   The chemistry between the cast is great and I don’t think every movie needs to prove it is out to be original.   AMERICAN ASSASSIN will have a healthy life in rental and blu-ray/ DVD/ digital sales after it leaves theaters.  I hope it makes enough money to convince CBS Films that another one needs to be made.

This review is ©9-21-2017 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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