The Amateur

"Don't underestimate him."

2025 2h 3m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

🍅

61%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 1,824🍅61%Rotten Tomatoes●52Metacritic★6.5IMDB · 99,545

ThrillerAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After his life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack, a brilliant but introverted CIA decoder takes matters into his own hands when his supervisors refuse to take action.

“Don't underestimate him.”

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Cast

Rami Malek
Heller
Holt McCallany
Director Moore
Danny Sapani
Caleb
Rachel Brosnahan
Sarah
Michael Stuhlbarg
Schiller
Laurence Fishburne
Henderson
Julianne Nicholson
Director O'Brien
Caitríona Balfe
Inquiline

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Hawes
Writers: Ken Nolan, Gary Spinelli
Languages: English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Turkish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 6 languages: English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Turkish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Hawes, shot by Martin Ruhe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Volker Bertelmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jonathan Amos shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Rami Malek and Holt McCallany and Danny Sapani carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Don't underestimate him.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Hawes directs. Martin Ruhe behind the camera. Volker Bertelmann scores. Jonathan Amos cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Turkish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released last year.
3Dialogue crosses 6 languages: English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Turkish.
4Directed by James Hawes, shot by Martin Ruhe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Volker Bertelmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jonathan Amos shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Rami Malek and Holt McCallany and Danny Sapani carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Don't underestimate him.".
9IMDB entry: tt0899043 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "central intelligence agency (cia)", "based on novel or book", "escape", "blackmail".

The technical file

Cinematography: Martin Ruhe
Original score: Volker Bertelmann
Editing: Jonathan Amos
Production design: Maria Djurkovic
Costume design: Suzie Harman
VFX supervisor: Jan Maroske
Sound: Mike Prestwood Smith
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $60,000,000
Box office: $96,000,836
Return: 160% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Amateur (2025)
Rotten Tomatoes: 61% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 52/100
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 99,545 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

1 win total

Also by

James Hawes

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2025-04-11
★ 9/10
'The Amateur' is not all that believable or unique, but it without question made for a satisfying time at the movies for me. It feels like a long while since I've seen Rami Malek in anything; fwiw, 'Oppenheimer' over a year ago. This makes for a strong return into my world. Malek is the beating heart of the movie, as you'd expect. I mentioned that it doesn't come across as all that plausible, though that is only in regards to what the film ends up portraying; Malek is convincing as the main dude. Elsewhere, Laurence Fishburne and Michael Stuhlbarg are good. I was fully invested from beginning to end, so I can't really harbour any complaints. It's pure and simply a very well done movie, in my eyes at least. After the very good 'One Life'</em? and now this, James Hawes is turning into an interesting director to look out for.
Manuel São Bento2025-04-14
★ 5/10
FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://movieswetextedabout.com/the-amateur-movie-review-can-revenge-heal-grief/ "The Amateur ends up being a mild disappointment, especially given the legitimate expectations raised by the talent involved, both in front of and behind the camera. Despite a committed performance from Rami Malek, James Hawes' adaptation fails to escape a formulaic, timid, and emotionally shallow narrative - its simplicity and lack of surprise stand as its most significant flaws. There are occasional glimpses of emotional weight, but the script rarely ventures into more complex or thematically challenging territory, resulting in an experience that might entertain in the most basic sense. For a spy thriller with introspective ambitions, its biggest misstep was settling for the surface level." Rating: C+
CinemaSerf2025-04-16
★ 6/10
“Heller” (Rami Malek) is the geeky “Jack Ryan” type, stuck in an office five floors below sunlight working on intelligence gathering and decrypting for the CIA. Intrigued by his latest set of dossiers from a deep throat somewhere on the internet, he suspects he has stumbled upon something nefarious. Before he has time to investigate, though, he hears that his wife has been the victim of a terrorist attack in London and so now he’s seeing red. Using the information he has recently obtained as leverage, he gets himself trained and equipped for an operational mission to get some revenge. Thing is, “Heller” isn’t a natural born killer, and despite the best efforts of his handler “Henderson” (Laurence Fishburne) he isn’t considered likely to be much more effective than a wet lettuce when it comes to killing anyone. What we now see is that there are more ways than one to skin a cat and brain can sometimes overcome brawn if applied with plenty of explosives, sticky tape and even the odd rogue missile. That’s perhaps the problem with this film: we’ve seen it all before - and more compellingly, too. Malek does enough but the rest of the cast really underwhelm and the set-piece action scenes come all too few and far between before an ending that really just fizzles out. James Hawes has presented us with a great looking film, packed with gadgets and gizmos, and the story also does make you realise just how big brotherly society has become with cameras apparently everywhere manipulating imagery from your shadow cast on a water-filled dustbin lid - but after a while, that all becomes a little repetitive and the plot settles into an implausible predictability. It has it’s moments, but sadly that’s all they are and this is a film that you’ll soon forget all about.