YMMV / American Assassin

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• Complete Monster: Ghost was once an assassin for Stan Hurley's black ops unit Orion before his reckless behavior nearly got the unit killed, forcing Hurley to abandon him. Becoming a psychopathic mercenary and terrorist years later, he would retrieve plutonium from a group of arms dealers before killing the group, as well as the police on his tail. When learning of Orion tailing him at a restaurant, Ghost kills one agent and murders countless of innocent people before making his escape. He would later murder Hurley's contact before kidnapping him; he would then torture Hurley for abandoning him. When Ghost's Iranian allies gives the components needed to make his nuclear bomb, Ghost kills them and reveals his plans to use the bomb to destroy the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet and kill thousands of people just to spite Hurley.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Hurley is everybody's favorite character, due to Michael Keaton's memorable acting job.
• He Really Can Act: Even critics who didn't like the film praised Dylan O'Brien's performance, considering he's best-known for less acclaimed fare such as Teen Wolf.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • The nuclear detonation that every trailer made sure to milk for all that it's worth was apparently the main reason for many to watch the film.
  • Failing that, the heavy featuring of Michael Keaton as an old Action Hero managed to somewhat mitigate the poorer aspects of the film.
• Magnificent Bastard: Stan Hurley runs Orion, a CIA assassination squad in charge of eliminating the world's most notorious terrorists with absolute discretion. Hurley has his cadets endure brutally intense training before sending them out to kill their targets, while always reminding them that no one will rescue them should they get caught. Through Hurley's unscrupulous methods, such as threatening to burn a nuclear physicist alive, he learns that his former pupil, Ghost, is working with the Iranian Government to develop a nuclear bomb and that an Iranian mole, has infiltrated Orion. When Ghost kidnaps Hurley and tortures him for abandoning him, Hurley calls out Ghost on his excuses justifying that Ghost's reckless behavior nearly got his unit kill, while remaining fearlessly defiant throughout the session; Hurley would exploit his torture session to uncover Ghost true plan to use the Iranian bomb to destroy the U.S Navy's Sixth Fleet, and tells his agent, Mitch Rapp, about it, allowing Mitch to kill Ghost and foil his plans.
• Narm: Rapp's proposal to his girlfriend in the prologue feels really silly when you notice that his still-running phone cam is pointed directly at her ample bikini cleavage the whole time. Talk about Male Gaze, huh?
• Special Effects Failure: The CGI depictions of military technology such as helicopters and Naval vessels are...tenuous at best.
• Spiritual Adaptation: With Michael Keaton training a bunch of young men in the art of combat and stealth, you don't have to feel bad for thinking of this as a movie about a new Robin's Training from Hell under an older Batman.
• Squick: Hurley biting off parts of Ghost's ear, chewing on it, then spitting it in his face. Ew.

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