American Assassin (2017)
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A vengeful CIA operative must navigate a complex web of international intrigue to stop a rogue nuclear threat.
The story
Mitch Rapp, a young CIA black ops recruit, finds his life shattered when a jihadist attack in Ibiza kills his fiancée. Driven by a desire for vengeance, Rapp trains himself in martial arts and marksmanship while tracking the man responsible for the tragedy. His path leads him to a specialized black operations unit, where he is mentored by a Cold War veteran. The mission escalates when intelligence reveals that weapon-grade nuclear material has been stolen and is moving toward a dangerous destination. Rapp must navigate a high-stakes international landscape to intercept the material and stop a looming nuclear catastrophe.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After his fiancée is killed in a jihadist attack in Ibiza, Mitch Rapp becomes obsessed with finding the perpetrator. He eventually joins a CIA black operations unit, Orion, led by veteran Stan Hurley. The plot thickens when nuclear material is stolen from a Russian facility and intercepted by a third party known as 'Ghost.' The hunt leads the team through Turkey, Rome, and beyond. Rapp discovers a double agent, Annika, and eventually teams up with her to find Ghost's hideout. After a series of skirmishes, Rapp confronts Ghost on a boat carrying a nuclear device. Rapp kills Ghost and manages to throw the weapon into the sea before it detonates, creating a tsunami that impacts the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet. In the aftermath, Rapp is seen in Dubai, while the political landscape shifts as the faction that tried to obtain the weapon wins a presidential election.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 111
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Michael Cuesta
- Writers
- Stephen Schiff · screenplay; Michael Finch · screenplay; Edward Zwick · screenplay; Marshall Herskovitz · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Dylan O'Brien · Mitch Rapp; Michael Keaton · Stan Hurley; Sanaa Lathan · Irene Kennedy; Shiva Negar · Annika; Taylor Kitsch · Ghost
- Genres
- action; thriller
- Themes
- revenge; terrorism; espionage
- Tone and mood
- tense; action-packed
- Premise and plot tags
- CIA; nuclear threat; martial arts; vengeance
- Source material / true-story basis
- Vince Flynn's 2010 novel of the same name
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, who described the plot as clichéd and lacking thrills.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 45 · scale: 100 · review count: 30; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F; comScore · score: 67% · scale: percentage
- Production trivia
- The film was based on a novel by Vince Flynn.; The film was originally intended to be part of a series starting with 'Consent to Kill'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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