American Assassin is a 2017 American action thriller film directed by Michael Cuesta and starring Dylan O’Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar, and Taylor Kitsch. It was written by Stephen Schiff, Michael Finch, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz. Nominally based on Vince Flynn’s 2010 novel of the same name, its plot is about young CIA black ops recruit Mitch Rapp, who helps a Cold War veteran try to stop the detonation of a rogue nuclear weapon.
The film was released in the United States on September 15, 2017, and grossed over $67 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, who described the plot as clichéd and lacking thrills.
Plot
Mitch Rapp and his girlfriend Katrina Harper are on vacation in Ibiza, Spain. Moments after Katrina accepts Mitch’s proposal of marriage, a jihadist cell lands on the beach and begins to attack the civilians with assault rifles. Amid the carnage, Rapp frantically attempts to find Katrina, but his fiancée is killed by the terrorists.
Eighteen months later, Rapp, now consumed by his desire for vengeance, frequents an internet message board where the terrorist responsible for his girlfriend’s murder quizzes Rapp on aspects of Islam and jihad. Having secured an invitation to meet him face to face in Libya, Rapp prepares to take his vengeance on the man responsible for his girlfriend’s death, but before he can kill the terrorist, the cell is suddenly ambushed by U.S. Special Forces. Upset over the perception that he has been denied his vengeance, Rapp repeatedly stabs the terrorist he was after, who is already dead from the ambush, before being dragged out by the U.S. forces. In a CIA safe house Rapp undergoes 30 days of debriefing before being offered a chance by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy to join a black operations unit code-named Orion. Its head, Stan Hurley, is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and a Cold War veteran who trains Rapp and the other potential recruits in asymmetric warfare.
Meanwhile, word comes down through intelligence channels that weapons grade nuclear material has disappeared from a decommissioned Russian nuclear facility. The material in question appears to be heading to Iranian hardliners, who are upset with the Iranian government’s nuclear deal with the U.S. While verifying the sale of the nuclear material in Poland the plutonium is intercepted by a third party, who eliminates the sellers before vanishing into the crowd. In Virginia, Hurley sees news reports about the incident in Poland and tentatively identifies the perpetrator as a former Navy SEAL and Orion operative believed to have been killed in action and now going by the code-name “Ghost”. Hurley’s team is sent into Turkey to intercept the buyer Ghost is working for.
In Istanbul, Hurley’s team is identified, and the attempted intercept of the trigger device fails. Rapp pursues the seller to his apartment, and after killing the man, retrieves his laptop. The information leads the team to Rome, where Orion operatives identify a nuclear physicist needed to craft the nuclear material into a functional nuclear weapon. While in Rome, Rapp uncovers a co-worker, Annika, as a foreign agent for Iran. She explains that she is working for the mainstream Iranian faction which is attempting to stop the hardliners from acquiring nuclear material. During a meeting between Hurley and an Iranian contact, Ghost ambushes them and kills the contact and captures Hurley.
At the CIA safe house in Rome, Annika is being moved under guard by two Mossad agents when Rapp intercepts the car and frees her. Working together, they locate the subterranean headquarters Ghost is using to build the nuclear device. After infiltrating the tunnels, Rapp locates and frees a badly injured Hurley, however Annika is captured by Ghost and she kills herself with Ghost’s gun before Ghost escapes onto a boat with the nuke. Based on an earlier conversation, Hurley deduces that Ghost intends to make a kamikaze attack against the U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet. Rapp chases after Ghost’s boat, while the Sixth Fleet, alerted to the impending nuclear attack through CIA channels, prepares for the attack.
Aboard Ghost’s boat, Rapp kills Ghost and attempts to divert the boat away from the Sixth Fleet to shield the ships from the blast, before throwing the nuclear weapon into the sea and escaping aboard a Navy rescue helicopter sent by Irene to rescue Hurley. Seconds later the device detonates, creating a massive sink hole and subsequent tsunami that inundates the Sixth Fleet vessels, but the fleet survives the blast.
In the aftermath of the blast, Hurley is recovering from his injuries and notes that Rapp is on vacation in Dubai, while watching news reports indicating that the Iranian faction which tried to obtain the nuclear weapon will win the presidential election and is blaming the nuclear attack on the CIA. In Dubai, the faction candidate and his escorts enter an elevator in which Rapp is already present, smiling.
Cast
Dylan O’Brien as Mitch Rapp
Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley
Sanaa Lathan as Irene Kennedy
Shiva Negar as Annika
Taylor Kitsch as Ghost
David Suchet as Director Stansfield
Navid Negahban as Minister Behruz
Scott Adkins as Victor
Alaa Safi as Javeed
Khalid Laith as Sharif
Mohammad Bakri as Ashani
Charlotte Vega as Katrina
Reviews
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