American Assassin - Liked It

Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan
Director: Michael Cuesta 
Runtime: 1 hour, 52 minutes 
Action | Thriller | 2017

Dylan O'Brien takes the lead in this assassin movie where he plays a young man, scorned, who wants revenge on the terrorists. The beginning scene is very dramatic and sad. It opens with him proposing to his girlfriend. Sweetness and happiness all around... then as most of you would gather something bad happens. Honestly, I was thinking like a shark attack or something - I don't know why, I mean the damn movie is called American Assassin - but it was a terrorist attack. And the death of his fiance of 5 minutes steers him to the dark side for good. 

Rapp (O'Brien) is taken under the wing of Hurley (Keaton) where he trains him and some others to be CIA-like citizens. Though barely sanctioned by the government, the team is tasked with stopping a terrorist attack and bomb explosion. It was a typical spy movie with moles and gun violence and cat-and-mouse chasing. 

This film is extremely brutal and bloody, which in turns gives it an R rating. I will say that at some points I felt like the story line could have better flow, I feel like the majority of it was good. The connections to the main characters were nice to see, and Rapp's stubborness is really what drove the character to be who he was for America. 

The explosion in the end was both epic and terrifying. I loved the incorporation of the Naval fleet's reactions and the overall special effects to make that so amazing to see on screen. Luckily, this didn't happen in real like that would be scary. I'm going to give American Assassin a "liked it" rating. (3.5/5).