Once Upon a Time in the West... of Italy

It's true. I love George Clooney. I've found that people seem to love him or hate him. He's made some films that I really like, Ocean's Eleven, Michael Clayton, Up in the Air, and Good Night and Good Luck. You can argue that he doesn't have much acting range and that he always plays the same character. But he does take chances with his roles and can do quite a bit with that one character he plays particularly in Up in the Air and Michael Clayton. His new movie is The American. In this film, Clooney's character is having a very bad day, over and over again. He plays a world-weary hit man who is reaching the end of the line. The first scene (very Fargo in Sweden), where he has to dispatch a couple of hitmen sent to kill him and then kills his girlfriend (Irina Björklund) because she has seen too much, makes it clear that he is a sociopath, but a very good-looking sociopath.

Then, he is off to Italy so that he can shoot a movie while staying at his nice house on Lake Como. Oh wait, I am mixing up George Clooney and his character. He gets in touch with his handler. We know there is trouble ahead because his handler always gives a big sigh when he answers the phone and hears Clooney's voice on the other end. Clooney is given one last job to do, involving many long scenes of him building a sniper rifle out of spare parts borrowed from an Italian auto mechanic who is the illegitimate son of the local priest (Paolo Bonacelli) who befriends Clooney and tries to save his soul. But as Clooney says, "I don't think God is very interested in my soul." He is making the gun for a beautiful hitwoman (Thekla Reuten) who appears from time to time to shoot and flirt with Clooney. But his romantic interest is in a prostitute (Violante Placido) (yes with a heart of gold) who offers him a dream of what life could be like if he actually had a life.

In case we aren't getting what kind of archetype Clooney is playing, he walks into a bar one night in the little Italian town where he is hiding out and Once Upon a Time in the West is playing on the TV. The barman explains that the director is Sergio Leone, an Italian. The American isn't exactly a remake of Once Upon a Time in the West but there are similarities. At first glance, Clooney seems to share some sociopathic tendencies with Henry Fonda's evil assassin, but in the end he is more like Jason Robard's desperado who is seeking some redemption at the end of his life. And the ending of The American has some echoes of Once Upon a Time in the West. In case you were wondering, no one plays a harmonica in The American.

 The American is an interesting character study, but only of one character, that of Clooney's hitman. Paolo Bonacelli, as the old priest who is Clooney's last hope, does the best job of making a real character in his few scenes. Everyone else other than Clooney is a bit one-dimensional. The director, Anton Corbijn is yet another music video director. That being said, The American is the Anti-Bourne movie. There are no montages of 2 second cuts and after the first scene of the movie, Clooney doesn't kill anyone until near the end. The American is all about the death spiral of Clooney's hitman and so it is just a matter of time before it all falls apart. And this movie is all about watching and waiting with Clooney for this to happen. Don't see The American if you are having a bad day.