The Amateur ★★★

ACTION heroes have suddenly gone all working class.

In recent years we’ve had The Bricklayer, The Beekeeper, The Accountant, The Baker, a Bunnings worker (AKA The Equalizer) and even just a plain old Working Man.

Why all these lazy, occupation-based titles? (although The Equalizer isn’t bad).

Why not Harden Up instead of The Bricklayer, Stung instead of The Beekeeper and Overdone instead of The Baker?

OK, they’re all horrible, but you get what I mean; how about a bit of creativity here.

At least The Amateur has some legitimate meaning in the title that’s integral to the story that follows.

It also helps that Rami Malek plays the lead, the story is based on a novel (always useful) and the director made the popular television spy series Slow Horses.

Like so many other characters, Malek’s Heller works for the CIA. The difference is he has always been a desk-based decoder.

During a terrorist attack in London, Heller’s wife is taken hostage and murdered. After a period of grieving, Heller brings his considerable analytical skills to assessing all the available information.

He identifies leads to those responsible but can’t get his superiors to act as quickly as he wants them to.

Through plot I won’t reveal, Heller manages to get some basic training that enables him to go after the terrorists by himself, using a combination of his smart skills, determination and pure luck.

It’s a solid thriller that hopefully will stand alone without need of a sequel and new title, The Professional.

Watched at the cinema.