What Is The Amateur About?
The Amateur is strange, because it presents itself as a revenge thriller and a man dealing with grief after the death of his wife. But there’s a lot more subtextual nuance to what’s going on. Like, did you realize the subtle ways The Amateur was telling you to be online less and be more active in the world? I feel like this movie was engineered by a psychologist attempting to see if they can incept viewers into touching grass and voting.
Overall, The Amatuer is about taking action. Charlie starts off as an amateur, but he ends up becoming a professional. But not based on the standards of old heads like Laurence Fishburn’s Henderson. Charlie does it his way. At the end of the day, isn’t that the American dream? To tell others they’re wrong, bet on yourself, prove you’re right, and face zero consequences?
The Amateur Explained
Charlie Flies The Plane
I say it all the time—movies often purposefully compose the opening to mirror the ending. That means for pretty much every film, the easiest place to begin an interpretation is by looking at how things start versus how they end.
- Beginning:
- We first see the plane in Charlie’s barn. It’s a work in progress, with many parts on the ground, waiting for him to actually do the work.
- A brief scene with Charlie and his wife, that shows a loving relationship that hints at Sarah being grounded while Charlie has his head in the clouds.
- At work, Charlie’s conversation with Inquiline reveals that his bosses at the CIA have been using and covering up drone strikes and bomings in order to manipulate global politics.
- Escalation:
- Charlie desires to find and kill the people responsible for Sarah’s death.
- To achieve his goal, Charlie has to become self-reliant and independent in a way that’s antithetical to his character.
- He must go against his bosses and the interests of the United States.
- Ending
- Charlie succeeds in avenging Sarah.
- Charlie brings down his corrupt bosses, helping to usher in a new, more honest era of the CIA.
- He finishes restoring the Cessna and flies it.
What do we see in comparing the beginning to the end? Charlie’s grown as a person. Initially, he was a dreamer. By the end, he’s a doer. The events that transform Charlie could have been anything. Him working for the CIA and losing his wife are just variables. Sub in another job and another loss—the genre and tone might change, but the character journey is the same.
Take Jurassic Park, for example. Doctor Grant’s character journey is that he goes from not liking kids to being a father figure. You know what movie has the same journey? The lovable children’s movie about a ragtag hockey team: The Mighty Ducks. You know what other movie has the same journey? The super depressing Manchester by the Sea. Three incredibly different movies, each with very different styles and tones and subject matter, but all have main characters with the same arc.
Charlie’s journey to avenge Sarah stands in for the grieving process. In a grounded movie, we’d see him re-learning how to be an independent adult. He’d be cleaning his house. Getting organized. The flowers that Sarah had in the house would all die and by the end Charlie would have new, healthy plants that he’s taking care of, a clear sign that he’s going to be okay on his own. His team up with Inquiline would be him starting to date again—it doesn’t work out, but it’s another healthy step in moving on. At the end, he still flies the Cessna he finally rebuilt. And it means the same thing—he’s going to be okay. His life isn’t over.
But grounded stories are often boring because they’re so familiar. Which is why we defamiliarize those events through genre. In this case, the spy thriller.
Stop Being On The Computer So Much
I can’t help but think there’s part of The Amateur that’s carefully designed to resonate with modern audiences. Sure, 99% of people aren’t CIA tech nerds. But 99% of us seem to be terminally online. When Sarah calls Charlie from London, he doesn’t take the time to talk with her because he’s caught up in a puzzle at work. At that moment, he chooses his digital life over his real life.
When Sarah passes away, part of the guilt Charlie feels is that he wasn’t present for their last conversation. The rest of the movie is him progressively leaving computers behind and spending more time in the world. He begins to synthesize the skills he gained as a computer guy with physical situations and problems. He engineers real events rather than amorphous code.
Even Inquiline goes from being a name on a screen to a physical person he gets to know. And their relationship deepens because of it. Even though they had talked for years, it was superficial. But in the short time they’re physically together, they bond in ways they otherwise never would have. And that allows both to feel some degree of closure when it comes to the grief of losing a loved one.
The Amateur never outright states that people should spend less time online. But the subtext of the entire film is “go touch grass”. Which gets back to Charlie’s plane. The more he was distracted by the digital, the less he got to experience. By the end, he’s found balance. And that gives him the space to prioritize non-digital things he cares about.
Jonathan Bernthal Is The Goal
Honestly, how The Amateur handles Jonathan Bernthal’s Jackson O’Brien is pretty bad. He’s introduced early on as THE GUY. He’s the top field agent. This man’s man. And Charlie clearly looks up to him. That’s the whole purpose of the scene where Charlie thinks Jackson’s going to ask him to lunch, only for the request to actually be fixing a computer. The movie shows us that Charlie wants to be like Jackson. He wants to be someone who is physically capable, not just computer literate.
Then Jackson is completely gone from the movie until the very end, when he puts in a half-hearted attempt to convince Charlie to give up pursuing Schiller and come back home. Let’s look at the conversation.
- Jackson: So rabbit on the run, huh?
- Charlie: You’re here to kill me?
- J: Nah, that’s not really what I do. I mean, I might set you up to get killed, you know, facilitate it. What are you looking for?
- C: I don’t know. My assassin.
- J: Your assassin? What do you think…What does an assassin look like? I mean, it can be anyone, huh? I mean, even a slight little nerdy fella who likes to work on computers. Only thing dangerous about him is he’s got this dream about rehabbing a Cessna, to fly it around and prove to himself he’s not afraid…. I got to hand it to you. I almost didn’t recognize you. I said to the team, “there’s no way, that ain’t him.”
- C: What do you want?
- J: Honestly, just here to save your life.
- C: How are you gonna do that?
- J: Chuck, you killed three people. Are you done? Have you had enough?
- C: No, I want the guy who pulled the trigger. I want them all.
- J: Damn, dude. That’s pretty cold blooded. You think they’re gonna let you leave Russia? I mean, how does that even work? How do you leave here? The only way you leave here is in a box. But if you walk out of here right now with me, I can help you…
Narratively, Jackson’s role in this scene is to show how far Charlie’s come and set up a last hurdle. That’s why Jackson calls back to Charlie being a “little nerdy fella who likes to work on computers”. And it’s why Jackson says he’s the only one who can help Charlie. It presents this argument that Charlie still isn’t as much of a man as Jackson, that he must rely on the more masculine, confident, capable male.
By rejecting Jackson and proceeding to pursue Schiller, Charlie isn’t just avening Sarah, he’s proving to himself he’s just as capable, in his own way, as Jackson. In that way, Charlie’s capture of Schiller becomes less about Sarah and more about Charlie’s own sense of self. So while The Amateur positions itself as this story about grief and catharsis, I’d argue it’s actually about finding confidence in who you are, with Sarah’s character and death being more of a plot device.
Sure, Sarah gave Charlie the plane as a gift. But him flying it has less to do with her and more to do with his own confidence. The film specifically has Jackson call that out: He’s got this dream about rehabbing a Cessna, to fly it around and prove to himself he’s not afraid. You could argue that Jackson doesn’t know Charlie and is just saying things. And that would be a perfectly fine argument in real life. But a movie isn’t real life. Jackson’s dialogue isn’t organic. It’s carefully selected by the screenwriter to convey information to the viewer.
That’s reinforced by the title. In The Babadook, the titular monster is the embodiment of grief, so the title actually relates to grieving. The Amateur as a title has no real connection to grief. Instead, it speaks to qualification. Charlie is the amateur, Jackson is the professional. Charlie wants to be like Jackson. Except he’s also afraid. And not physically gifted. Jackson essentially calls that out by saying Charlie can’t survive on his own and needs a professional like Jackson to make it home. By proving Jackson wrong, Charlie graduates from amateur to professional.
There’s something aspirational therein that will probably resonate with a lot of viewers, especially male viewers. The Amateur appeals to our entrepreneurial side. To hustle culture. To the person who thinks, “I could be great at that if I just put in the time and had an opportunity.” There’s a version of this movie that’s really heavy handed about that and speaks more directly to the guy who works a blue collar 9-5 but secretly thinks he could have been a successful [insert whatever] if he had only focused on the 10,000.
Most of us have some unfinished project. A novel. An album. A car you want to restore. A video game you tell yourself you’ll play. A giant smoker because you’re convinced one day you’ll have the time to start a BBQ catering company. Etc. etc. Charlie’s Cessna is the same thing.
Is There Hope For America?
Paralleling Charlie’s story is the subplot about Samantha O’Brien as the CIA Director. Deputy Director Alex Moore is amoral and believes that the ends justify the means. That’s why he would employ Schiller’s team to carry out illegal black ops, which kind of makes Moore, and thus America, responsible for Sarah’s death. He embodies American tyranny and abuse of power.
To Moore, his way is not only obvious but necessary. He views O’Brien, and her emphasis on morals and values, as naive. Just like he viewed Charlie as incapable. He underestimated both because of his outdated way of seeing the world.
If Charlie had done nothing, then Moore would have continued to get away with illegally shaping world politics. But because Charlie stops being digital and starts being active, he brings about Moore’s downfall. Which allows O’Brien to solidify her power and usher in a new era of the CIA.
I don’t mean this in a bad way, but The Amatueir is almost propaganda, in that it’s showing viewers that if you get up and do something then you can change America itself. For example, like voting.
According to exit polling conducted by NBC News, only 14% of voters in the 2024 presidential election were aged 18-29. 23% were 30-44. 35% were 45-64. And 28% were 65 or older. 63% of voters were 45+. The policies of today will have the greatest impact on tomorrow, yet the people who have the most to lose, those under the age of 45, vote way less than those with less to lose. Which means the future of the country is dictated by those who have less stake in it.
So young people don’t vote, then they often complain about how things are. It feels like there’s part of The Amateur that’s trying to incept people who watch the movie into political action.
While Charlie trying to avenge Sarah feels very distant from him being disillusioned in America, there is a dovetail in that final conversation with Jackson.
- Jackson: [Sarah] would want you home, man.
- Charlie: I can’t go home.
- J: Why?
- C: She’s not there.
Sarah’s death pretty much coincided with Charlie decrypting the files that revealed Moore’s black ops. In some ways, Sarah’s death is the external manifestation of Charlie’s loss of faith in America. Since Moore had used Schiller’s team before, Charlie’s pursuit of Schiller isn’t just about Sarah but about the country. Sarah represented the good parts of life in America, the innocence of the country, its beauty, grace, and lovability. When he says “She’s not there,” he’s essentially saying that America doesn’t have the values, qualities, or morals that make it a place he can be.
If he was passive, then nothing would change and the country would continue to rot. But because Charlie’s active, because he takes down Schiller, and thus Moore, O’Brien steps in and can start the process of redemption. Which is why Charlie comes home. Things won’t be what they were. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be a new kind of good.
Cast
- Charlie Heller – Rami Malek
- Sarah Heller – Rachel Brosnahan
- Inquiline – Caitríona Balfe
- Hendo – Laurence Fishburne
- Jackson O’Brien – Jon Bernthal
- CIA Deputy Director Alex Moore – Holt McCallany
- Caleb Horowitz – Danny Sapani
- Samantha O’Brien – Julianne Nicholson
- Horst Schiller – Michael Stuhlbarg
- Based on – The Amateur novel by Robert Littell
- Written by – Ken Nolan | Gary Spinelli
- Directed by – James Hawes
