The american - 2010

It's not a bad movie because George Clooney is a great actor, and he can carry the weight of a whole movie on his shoulders, as he does here, where the camera almost never leaves his face. Still, there's so much nudity it demeans it. It's like someone didn't really believe in the story and its potential and thought it had to be filled with cheap tricks to attract audience. I was very annoyed by it because I'm still of the same opinion that a good film, it it is really good, has no use whatsoever with nudity, it serves no real purpose, it is never necessary, it's merely a cheap way to get attention.
Here, we start from the beginning with a woman laying naked on the bed, with a shot of her naked butt, then we go to Violante Placido who wouldn't be a bad actress but here she's naked half the time, maybe more. Totally naked. How pathetic is that huh?
The story is all around Jack (George Clooney) a killer who is tired of his life: in Sweden he has to kill two men that were there to kill him, who knows why, then he killed his woman because now she knew. He comes to Italy and makes contact with Pavel, the man he works for. Amazing how Jack can easily find payphones and they always work, astonishing. Pavel tells him to go to Castelvecchio, but maybe it was too small for him, or maybe he preferred a place nobody knew about, so instead he goes to Castel Del Monte, in Abruzzo. A killer should never have family or friends, and yet he seeks them. He often chats with the local priest and becomes sweet on a prostitute. Btw how did he find her so quickly? I guess those houses can be found anywhere, but they don't have a big sign outside, they're not legal, so how did he find it? Did he 'ask around'? What about keeping a low profile? I mean, he's 'the American', it's not like he can do anything without people, everyone knowing about it.
Anyway, he likes her and gives her a lot of money, and she becomes sweet on him too and start seeing him privately, as a date, not as work. In the meantime he has another job, to build a customize weapon, then he tells Pavel that he wants out. He knows what's coming, he just hopes to be able to kill them and run away with Clara, but Pavel himself is out to kill him. Jack kills him, but he's been hit. Badly.
I understand him wanting to quit, he was losing it: a book falls down: he jumps on his bed; Clara has a gun for her own protection: he fears she's there to kill him; in every face he expects an enemy, what kind of life is that? Now there is beautiful, young Clara telling him he's not a client, asking him to take her away with him, begging him to stay with her forever.. and he wants just that. He sabotages his own creation so when that woman who bought it tries to use it to kill him she gets killed instead, but it's not over. Jack, or Edward as Clara knows him, is wounded, but still drives to where Clara is waiting for him, so he can see her, she's there for him, waiting for him, his dream is at hand, so near... and yet it'll never be fulfilled because as he stops the car he dies; she cries out his name and the movie ends. Well, of course, although he was the protagonist and wanted to change life, he did not deserve it, so this was the right ending. He had killed lots of good people, he did not deserve a happy ending.
I think if they had really believed in this movie, it could have been something really good, indeed, because Clooney is really great, he's a really really good actor. How sad that even actors and actresses are still labeled based on their appearances, and often their true talent is kept in the background, and saying how good they are seems to many a simple excuse to watch their beauty pretending to admire their work. It's sad, our society cares only about appearance, it's so depressing and stupid, and people are so used to lies and hypocrisy and duplicity that they expect it everywhere, always.
Anyway, this movie is all based on Clooney, and I think he does a superb job indeed.
I liked the 'processione', religious procession , at the end among the town's streets, with the Madonna and the priest. They should show our kind of processions, with the prayers on the loudspeakers and all the Christs carried along the streets, sometimes dancing if they're good enough carriers (it's not a real dance of course), and behind lots of people following :-)