"I'll think about it."

"The American"

The American, director Anton Corbijn's follow up to the ingenius biopic Control, is every bit as still and stoic as a film about a hitman could be. George Clooney stars as a man called Jack, then Edward. He is shrouded in mystery. His apartment is sparse. The most we know of his personal routine is that he exercises daily and visits prostitutes nearly as much. Oh, yes. And someone is trying to kill him.

Affected banality is not just the whiff of the review but the spirit of the film. Death, violence, sex, redemption. Somehow they all get played in the very same key. A day to day feeling of nothing despite a motorcycle chase here and a very vivid brothel visit there. There is an effect. This is all no doubt intentional. The source is a book entitled "A Very Private Gentleman" by Martin Booth. Indeed Edward is, for all his interactions, a placid and hollow hero so resistant to sentiment and absent of will that he becomes painful to watch despite Corbijn's spectacular compositions and Clooney's vibrant, movie star presence.

The film builds to a finale of great suspense and delicate grace. The final impact, having weathered the storm, is quite positive. It exists as a satisfying whole, deliberately paced and with careful methodology. There's not so much a flaw as there is a contagious lack of electricity and what you are left with, in spite of all things, is an elegant bore.

Ivan wants to smile but cannot.