The American (2010) - Corbijn and Clooney's paper-thin, boring, pretentious hitman outing

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The artsy, uninformative poster for Anton Corbijn's The American

QUICK REVIEW:

The American is the second feature from Dutch filmmaker Anton Corbijn (Control (2007)). It is an adaptation of Martin Booth's (Snath (1975)) novel A Very Private Gentleman (1990)) by Rowan Joffe (Before I Go to Sleep (2014)).

An American hitman is hunted in Sweden and escapes south to Rome in order to complete a last hit, while also indulging in the company of some lovely ladies.

Inept, pretentious and worst of all a frightful bore, The American snails its way ahead as sort of like a James Bond film stripped of all the fun. It has absolutely no humor, exciting action, a good villain or anything else that might make it entertaining in any meaningful way. It just has George Clooney (The Descendants (2011)) with a surly stone-face, dabbling around like some sunglass model in Corbijn's vacuous spaces. Not even a world star of his stature can make an audience member such as myself interested in this aggressively unappealing 'hero'. SPOILER He begins by shooting a beautiful, innocent women, - in the back, no less, - without ever letting us understand why, and he then continues his uncouthness in the presence of, among others, a Catholic father.
All of this apparently originates from the wish to make an homage to Clint Eastwood's character in Sergio Leone's westerns with him from the 1960s, but it is really no excuse for a film as flimsy as this.
The American's sole qualities lie in its undeniably beautiful Italian locations and consistent cinematography, by Martin Ruhe (Harry Brown (2009)).

Related review:

Anton Corbijn: A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture
Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 67.8 mil. $
= Box office success
[The American was released September 1 and runs 105 minutes. It was shot from September - November 2009 in Sweden and Italy. It opened #1 with a 13.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 35.6 mil. $ (52.4 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 4.6 mil. $ (6.8 %) and France with 3.9 mil. $ (5.8 %). Because it was made for a remarkably low budget for a mainstream star-vehicle, it emerged a commercial winner. Roger Ebert, mysteriously, awarded the film a perfect 4 out of 4 stars in his review. The American is fresh at 66 % with a 6.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The American?

Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

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+ Best Music Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year: Anton Corbijn + Best B/W Movie of the Year

The stylish poster with Sam Riley cigarette-in-mouth for Anton Corbijn's Control

QUICK REVIEW:

Control is a music drama biopic based on Joy Division front singer Ian Curtis' life from 1973-'80, when he took his own life. 
The movie covers him from the assembly of his first band Warsaw, to his early marriage and child, the building of Joy Division, perhaps the most important post punk band of all, the music, the success, the mistress, his epilepsy and finally, his suicide. His struggles with love most of all, perhaps, is the center here.
I love the music of Joy Division, though being a fan is not a prerequisite for watching or enjoying Control, which is very well-produced; especially the cinematography (by Martin Ruhe (The American (2010)) is excellent and at its best moments poetic like Curtis' lyrics. 
The English reality portrayed in Control is incredibly crude and dreary, - similar to Hamburg in the film's Dutch director Anton Corbijn's (The American (2010)) newest film, A Most Wanted Man. (2014). The script is also rather stiff and hard, at times tragicomic. It deals with hard topics.
Control was Corbijn's debut feature. He comes from a background in photography and music videos and has had a long history with Joy Division in this role. He is now in post with his next movie, Life (2015), about a photo-shoot with James Dean for Life Magazine.

Related posts:

Anton Corbijn: 2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 4.5 mil. euros
Box office: 8.1 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Corbijn put up half of the budget himself and won considerable critical praise and prizes for Control, including a BAFTA for the film's writer. His next film was the low-budgeted George Clooney-starring The American, which had a better commercial result, making 67.8 mil. $ on a 20 mil. $ budget.]

What do you think of Control?
Other good movies about punk bands?