American Assassin [Blu-ray/DVD] [2017]

American Assasin is a great action film. It is based of a book by Vince Flynn of the same name. You do not need to read the book to understand the movie.

Eighteen months later, Rapp, now consumed by his desire for vengeance, frequents an internet message board where the terrorist responsible for his girlfriend's murder quizzes Rapp on aspects of Islam and jihad. Having secured an invitation to meet him face to face in Libya, Rapp prepares to take his vengeance on the man responsible for his girlfriend's death, but before he can kill the terrorist, the cell is suddenly ambushed by U.S. Special Forces. Upset over the perception that he has been denied his vengeance, Rapp repeatedly stabs the terrorist he was after, who is already dead from the ambush, before being dragged out by the U.S. forces. In a CIA safe house Rapp undergoes 30 days of debriefing before being offered a chance by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy to join a black operations unit code-named Orion. Its head, Stan Hurley, is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and a Cold War veteran who trains Rapp and the other potential recruits in asymmetric warfare. Meanwhile, word comes down through intelligence channels that weapons grade nuclear material has gone missing from a decommissioned Russian nuclear facility. The material in question appears to be heading to Iranian hardliners, who are upset with the Iranian government's nuclear deal with the U.S. While verifying the sale of the nuclear material in Poland the plutonium is intercepted by a third party, who eliminates the sellers before vanishing into the crowd. In Virginia, Hurley sees news reports about the incident in Poland and tentatively identifies the perpetrator as a former Navy SEAL and Orion operative believed to have been killed in action and now going by the code-name "Ghost". Hurley's team is sent into Turkey to intercept the buyer Ghost is working for. In Istanbul, Hurley's team is identified, and the attempted intercept of the trigger device fails. Rapp pursues the seller to his apartment, and after killing the man, retrieves his laptop. The information leads the team to Rome, where Orion operatives identify a nuclear physicist needed to craft the nuclear material into a functional nuclear weapon. While in Rome, Rapp uncovers a co-worker, Annika, as a foreign agent for Iran. She explains that she is working for the mainstream Iranian faction which is attempting to stop the hardliners from acquiring nuclear material. During a meeting between Hurley and an Iranian contact, Ghost ambushes them and kills the contact and captures Hurley. At the CIA safe house in Rome, Annika is being moved under guard by two Mossad agents when Rapp intercepts the car and frees her. Working together, both locate the subterranean headquarters Ghost is using to build the nuclear device. After infiltrating the tunnels, Rapp locates and frees a badly injured Hurley, however Annika is captured by Ghost and she kills herself with Ghost's gun before Ghost escapes onto a boat with the nuke. Based on an earlier conversation, Hurley deduces that Ghost intends to make a kamikaze attack against the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet. Rapp chases after Ghost's boat, while the Sixth Fleet, alerted to the impending nuclear attack through CIA channels, prepares for the attack. Aboard Ghost's boat, Rapp kills Ghost and attempts to divert the boat away from the Sixth Fleet to shield the ships from the blast, before throwing the nuclear weapon into the sea and escaping aboard a Rescue helicopter sent by Irene to rescue Hurley. Seconds later the device detonates, creating a massive sink hole and subsequent tsunami that inundates the Sixth Fleet vessels, but the fleet survives the blast. In the aftermath of the blast, Hurley is recovering from his injuries and notes that Rapp is on vacation in Dubai, while watching news reports indicating that the Iranian faction which tried to obtain the nuclear weapon will win the presidential election. In Dubai, the faction candidate and his escorts enter an elevator in which Rapp is already present, smiling.

Great Action-Packed Movie!! I recently purchased a New Samsung Q90T 65" (2020) Q-LED TV and matching Q950T Samsung Soundbar and 4K UHD Blu-ray Player and wanted to purchase a few really good 4K UHD Movies to show off the picture and ATMOS surround audio. This DVD does not disappoint. Great movie with plenty of action scenes with very good Surround sound. And I got it on sale! Better than going to the Movies, especially now since COVID-19. On the edge of your seat action Movie!

This is a good action espionage terrorist thriller movie. For the most part, this is a great looking transfer that has excellent detail levels across the board and some really impressive depth of field in the many outdoor shots. There are a few isolated instances where a smattering of noise intrudes in darker moments. Fine detail tends to pop quite admirably in brighter lighting conditions.

The uprising star Dylan O'Brien, really puts action into a whole new level as a CIA operative Mitch Rapp! And Michael Keaton was incredible! I was impressed when I saw it in theaters, and it has really made it up to my list of top movies! If you like franchises from Tom Clancy, the Bourne Saga, Mission Impossibe, and others, then this is your chance to own such a great movie in a collection piece. I believe they left the doors open for a whole new franchise with this new fictional character Mitch Rapp!

"American Assassin" follows young CIA recruit Mitch Rapp as he brings the fight to the terrorists! Based on the Chronological first book in the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn, it stars Dylan O'Brien as our hero, Michael Keaton (Batman, Mr. Mom) Co-Stars as Rapp's instructor, Stan Hurley. While significantly different from the book of the same name, it is a great introduction to what will hopefully become Hollywood's next action movie franchise. James Bond? Who's he?

This starts out as a standard revenge driven action movie stemming from an unexplained attack and killing. The government spy agencies like what they see in this "man on a mission" and decide to try to recruit him. In comes Michael Keaton as a trainer and overseer for the young recruit, and as with most movies like this, things don't always go as planned, and it has some nice plot twists along the way. This also has a very satisfying ending, and it was nice to see Michael Keaton continue his move toward not so likeable characters, which is a good thing.

This was a blind buy, as I had not seen this movie previously and did not hear anything about it. I don’t even remember seeing this come out in the theaters. As such, I enjoyed this movie a lot. Lots of action and pretty good cast. The plot is predictable, but you don’t watch these types of movies for the story. You watch it for the action and the escapism of reality and everyday life. This is a great, entertaining action movie. I’m glad to add it to my collection.