IR Film Review: AMERICAN STAR [IFC Films]
The concept of an assassin film as metaphorical existentialism is not new but the idea of concept is in the eye of the beholder. With "American Star", Spanish director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego places Ian McShane as an aging assassin on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. The setting is masterful especially since it takes the audience a bit to figure out where it actually as McShane's hitman settles into his target. Most of the film involves him waiting out his mark (though the reasoning -- beyond a timing issue -- is not clear). The context though of Ian McShane (after John Wick's Winston) revolving back in this context is interesting and compelling at the get go. He is a gray wolf here, and comes off visibly younger than in some of his recent roles. This has the poise of something George Clooney would do though the pacing is a bit slack. McShane is riveting to watch at times because this is an empathetic side (buried in a the guise of a hitman) that we don't get to see often.
Granted this is not "The Killer" or a procedural about how he does his job. It is more a journey of a person that maybe stayed on too long so his edges are frayed, or he lets his guard down when he shouldn't. McShane's assassin wanders the island but gets involved somewhat with a bartender (Nora Arnezeder) though his or her intent amnd reasoning is not clear until close to the end. The motivations and what is actually happening is quite interesting psychologically and only someone with as much confidence and stoicness in a way like McShane could pull this off.
There are two side stories which don't really add as much as they would think to the proceedings. One involves a kid at a hotel almost abandoned by his parents whom McShane's character acts almost as a father figure to. The other is a fellow colleague who both has a connection to his past as well as his future. Both storylines seems more keen in the aspect of really fattening up the story when there is not as much to sustain it beyond the core characterization before an actual action must be made. The "American Star" referred to is a cruise ship that is disengrating right off the beach on one side of island which got stuck and couldn't get off. That metaphor of course plays in. "American Star" is an interesting character piece for Ian McShane with some fantastic locations but at most points in its plot and structure lumbers along when perhaps it could have been something more. C+
By Tim Wassberg
