It should be no surprise that a music-video director would produce a film as beautiful and thin as "The American." It's also no shock that it would be almost wordless. In his second feature film (after "Control," about 1980s new wave band Joy Division), Anton Corbijn brings us "The American," the story of a lonely, melancholy hit man wandering around exotic locales in Europe. Given his profession, the main character (played quite well by George Clooney) has trouble trusting people. Whenever a beautiful woman captures his heart, he wonders if she's a paid agent setting him up to be killed. Sometimes she is. Sometimes she's an innocent who herself gets caught in the cross-hairs. This is a tough way to live.
Unfortunately, the film has little to say about it. It's depicted fairly well, with lots of wordless, evocative imagery. The cinematography is masterful from start to finish. The film does not dig very deep, however. Like any music-video director, Corbijn just hints at things. In the hands of a more talented director and with an actual screenwriter involved in the project, "The American" might have been a major achievement.
As it stands, "The American" is a mid-tier achievement. It does raise some interesting questions, and its intentions are intelligent and serious. Clooney and the top-notch supporting cast, which includes several European character actors we don't often see on American screens, are a joy to watch. The cinematography also takes one's breath away over and over. "The American" has many strong aspects. Would that it had a more fully baked story.
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