Spy Drama – Matthew Liedke on Film

It’s probably not a great sign that throughout this experience I was wishing the movie was about Laurence Fishburne’s character rather than the protagonist.

That protagonist is Charlie Heller (Rami Malek), the titular Amateur who works as a cryptographer with the CIA. Rather than conducting missions in the field, he works at the agency’s headquarters in the digital space. That is until his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack.

Following the incident, Heller sets out on a path of revenge. After picking up some training from special operative Robert Henderson (Fishburne), Charlie sets off on a multi-nation quest of payback against those behind the London plot, even if he has to go against the CIA to get it done.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘The Amateur’ doesn’t have enough thrills for an audience”

Talk about a power couple.

In the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh, Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett play a married couple who both work in British Intelligence as elite spies. At the outset of the film, Fassbender’s character George is informed that a secret piece of tech has been leaked and one of the suspects behind it is his wife, Kathryn.

George accepts the mission to investigate where the leak is coming from, committing to including his wife in his search, though he is skeptical. The film follows as he plays a careful game of keeping Kathryn close while also looking into her own spy work which has been labeled as classified or “black bagged.”

Continue reading “REVIEW: Soderbergh’s ‘Black Bag’ is a satisfactory spy flick”