The Amateur

The Amateur (2025) is about a cryptographer at the CIA. Charlie Heller works at a desk, has no field training, and his wife is killed in an attack in London. When the agency shows no interest in pursuing those responsible, he uses the only thing he has: the agency's own documents. He blackmails his way into field training and goes alone. The idea is the hero's incompetence. Heller cannot fight or handle a weapon and does not pretend otherwise; every move is framed as an engineering problem. He uses pressure in one scene, glass in another, height in a third. The source is Robert Littell's 1981 novel, which had already been filmed once in 1981. This is the second adaptation. James Hawes directed. He came from television and had made episodes of Slow Horses. Rami Malek plays Heller, Laurence Fishburne the man who trains him and Rachel Brosnahan his wife. It was shot across many locations including London, Marseille, Istanbul and Bucharest. It runs 123 minutes. Good for: espionage thrillers, revenge that runs on intelligence rather than force, and Rami Malek. Less good for: Heller cornering the agency by blackmail strains belief. The supporting characters are thin and the internal intrigue is familiar. The pace drops in the middle and the ending resolves too neatly.