The Amateur Is Similar To An Underappreciated Dylan O'Brien Movie From 2017, But It Does One Key Thing Different

2025's The Amateur,starring Rami Malek, is remarkably similar to an underappreciated Dylan O'Brien movie, but there's one crucial difference. The Amateur is based on the 1981 novel by Robert Littell, which had seen a prior film adaptation before this point. The Amateur's positive reviews helped it perform well at the box office despite a busy weekend with lots of competition. While the premise isn't necessarily original, The Amateur's ending offers a poignant experience for the main character that focuses heavily on grief. However, the movie bears a close resemblance to the 2017 action thriller, American Assassin.

Though different in many ways,the two films share the core themes of CIA entanglement and revenge following the loss of both protagonists' partners in terrorist attacks. American Assassin was intended to be part of a larger franchise before the film made a major loss at the box office. American Assassin and The Amateur's suspense and pacing differ most significantly, with both eliciting a number of critiques. However, American Assassin is making a comeback on Netflix after being discredited by audiences and critics during its release — making it a worthwhile watch leading up to The Amateur's theatrical release.

The Amateur Builds More Suspense As An Action Thriller Than American Assassin

The Amateur Benefits From Using Intellect Over Combat

The Amateur centers on Charles Heller (Malek), a CIA agent who is mourning the loss of his wife after she was implicated in a terrorist attack in St Pancras, London. Fueled by his grief, the intelligence agent Heller turns his passion for puzzles into a relentless pursuit of the individuals responsible for his wife's death — picking them off one by one. On the other hand, American Assassin's Mitch Rapp (O'Brien) is motivated by physical combat and marksmanship that comes under the tutelage of the CIA, after Rapp is enlisted in response to the terrorist attack that killed his girlfriend.

The intellect aspect significantly enhances Malek's character, leading to a much more intriguing premise. As a result, The Amateur better sustains its suspense throughout its runtime than American Assassin, because you're genuinely led to doubt Heller's ability to get revenge. Although he identifies and exploits the weaknesses of his targets, it's never clear if Heller will prevail in his encounters with killers, which ultimately creates a different kind of suspense. He is depicted as incredibly uncomfortable with violence, and lacks that killer instinct, and thiscontrast between Malek's vulnerability and O'Brien's overconfidence is what makes The Amateur more engaging.

The Amateur Does Have Some Pacing Problems That American Assassin Overcame

The Amateur Spoiled Its Biggest Moments In Its Trailer

Unfortunately, many of The Amateur's biggest action scenes were too rushed, and were ultimately ruined by the trailers before the film was even released. The main example of this would be The Amateur's pool scene, which was impressive but lost all sense of importance after the moment was revealed in trailers. Everything after this point lost its momentum, with some of The Amateur's narrative feeling fruitless due to the jarring nature of brief bursts of action and drawn-out, less engaging sequences. This prevents the film from maintaining a smooth and engaging flow of events.

Film	Year	Opening Weekend Box Office	Rotten Tomatoes Critic & Audience Rating
American Assassin	2017	$14,846,778	34%, 61%
The Amateur	2025	$14,802,849	61%, 89%

Alternatively, O'Brien's thriller keeps a good beat throughout its length, which remains its redeeming quality after American Assassin bombed at the box office. Many reviews for American Assassin highlight how "the film moves at such a brisk and confident pace throughout its first two acts," (via IGN) making it have some of the strongest espionage action scenes in recent years. That being said, the audience score for American Assassin is far better than the critical score, so while it does certain things well, The Amateur far surpasses American Assassin in terms of suspense, which is a core element in the genre.

Source: IGN